Honor Among Thieves
by DarkScales
Summary: "...Vaati made the first move after several minutes of just standing there and staring at each other. 'Uhh, did you guys happen to have any long-lost relatives you never told me about? 'Cause he looks just like you, Dark.' 'Nope, not as far as I know. Unless somebody tried to clone me and royally screwed up, 'cause I'm not green.'" Rated T for safety, pre-game to post-game.
1. Prologue

**So, this is one of those fics where an OC or another character joins Link on his journey to save Hyrule. Only this time, instead of an OC, I thought, _Why not Dark?_ Since I really like his character. Then I remembered some fic (I don't remember which one) where Dark was Shadow's older brother. Then Vaati popped in for no clear reason whatsoever. Yeah... my brain is weird. Anyway, enjoy!**

**By the way, updates will probably be slower than they were for TTLG since the chapters are longer. Please let me know what you think, and if I should continue this! 'Cause in nobody's interested I'm going to work on my other stories. So please give me feedback!  
**

**Disclaimer: Don't own, belongs to Nintendo.**

* * *

_Dark: Age 12_

_Shadow: Age 10_

_Castle Town, West Road_

"Get back here, ya dirty thieves!" The baker cried, lumbering out the doorway and attempting to chase us. Key word being _attempting_. He wasn't exactly in shape, if you know what I mean.

I laughed and stuck my tongue out at him over my shoulder, just 'cause I couldn't resist. My brother tried and failed to stifle his laughter at the sight of the man's face getting redder and redder by the second until it looked as if it was going to explode. Then the two of us pelted through Castle Town's maze of alleyways, leaving our would-be pursuer behind.

Slowing to a comfortable walk, I grinned and inhaled the delicious scent of the fresh-baked loaf of bread I carried in my hand. Dark carried two, and tucked them in his pouch for later.

"Nice job, bro. The man never saw it coming." He said, reaching over and ruffling my hair to make it even messier than before, if that was even possible.

"Thanks, Dark. Look, we even got enough for lunch!" I replied, swatting his hand away and brushing a few wayward purple strands from my face.

We soon came to a decrepit old building at the edge of the city, long since abandoned by its owners. We'd come across it a few years ago, and since then it became our home. The broken windows were covered with wooden boards, and the walls were old and creaked in the wind, but it worked. Besides, the fireplace as still working and a few moth-eaten blankets were strewn around in front of it as makeshift beds, so it wasn't too bad.

We survived, and that was what counted.

* * *

_Dark: Age 16_

_Shadow: Age 14_

_Vaati: Age 14_

_Castle Town, Main Plaza_

"Hey! Give that back!" I shouted, snapping out my arm and grabbing the wrist of the kid who'd just tried to pickpocket me. He was skinny and dirty, covered with grime that all but covered his pale purplish skin. The poor guy didn't look as if he'd been on his own for long, judging by the way he was thinner than a starving dog and wilder than a stampeding bulbo. He didn't look used to the harsh lifestyle, and it was clearly taking its toll on him.

"Let me go, you little ****!" He cried, twisting and writhing in my grip in a desperate attempt to break free.

"Who're ya callin' little, huh? You're skinnier than I am. Besides, you can't be that much older than me." I said, raising an eyebrow at his ruby-red eyes. I only knew one other person with red eyes like that, and that was Dark- my older brother who was now pickpocketing one of the guards by the south gate.

"Shut up! Just shut up and let me go!" He shrieked, an edge of panic creeping in by now. At this point all his yelling was starting to attract a crowd, which garnered much more unneeded attention than I wanted.

"Okay, okay! Jeez, just shut up and I'll let you go soon. But first, let's get out of the plaza. You're attracting one heck of a lot of attention. So unless you want us both to get arrested, shut your stupid mouth!" I hissed, digging my fingernails into his wrist. I dragged him into a nearby alleyway, away from prying eyes, and headed towards a quiet spot. He pouted, sullen, but had no choice but to follow.

"What's your name, kid?" I asked. He clamped his mouth shut and turned away, childishly facing the wall. I sighed and released his hand, knowing that there was no way he could get away from me on my turf. After all, I had grown up here, and knew the maze of alleyways and back streets like the back of my hand.

"... Vaati." He replied quietly, turning to face me. I noticed him stiffen his arm, as if he was about to try something, and tensed. My instincts didn't fail me, and not a second later he hurled what looked like a weak sphere of concentrated wind at me- which was definitely not what I was expecting, so it startled me enough so that I was off-balance just long enough for him to escape.

But I wasn't one of the best thieves in town for nothing, which meant that I had my own little arsenal of tricks up my sleeve. Though I had been almost sure that Dark and I were the only ones besides the Princess with... extraordinary abilities, let's call them. Well, it seemed as if we weren't alone. I wasn't sure whether I should have been relieved that we weren't the only ones or scared that we were gonna have competition.

I leapt into Vaati's shadow just as he rounded the corner and hid there, waiting for the kid to stop running long enough to show myself. He didn't disappoint and was soon panting for breath, hidden in yet another alleyway. I slowly rose out of his shadow behind him and put on a maniacal grin, showing off my small fangs where most others would have their canines.

Vaati seemed to sense my presence and spun around, yelping with fright. He backed away in a corner and crouched there, wearing an expression not unlike a cornered animal.

"Hey, it's alright kid. I'm not gonna hurt ya. I just wanted to scare ya a bit, y'know? Oh, and by the way, here's a tip: don't steal from somebody you're not fast enough to run away from, not clever enough to outsmart, or not strong enough to beat up, okay?" I said, feeling this unexplainable urge to help the poor boy.

"Hmph."

"Ugh... whatever, then. Come on, it looks like you could use a good meal."

"What?"

"Just come on."

**oooooooooo  
**

Two days later, Vaati was officially deemed our adopted brother when he successfully managed to pickpocket one of the guards without their notice. The three of soon became a tight-knit group, and it seemed as if he had always been there.

As it turned out, he was a budding sorcerer with an affinity for wind magic, which was a great asset in our endeavours. Sure, he was a bit rough around the edges (okay, maybe a bit more than a bit) but it worked out. Besides, he always had his dagger as backup if it came to a fight.

Soon, the three of us became known throughout Castle Town's underworld as the best thieves in the country- the Terrible Three, named for our ability to pretty do anything we wanted and get away with it.

Life was good. Or, well, as good as it could get when your house is an abandoned building.

* * *

_Dark: Age 17_

_Shadow: Age 15_

_Vaati: Age 15_

_North Hyrule Castle, Training Grounds_

"Good, good! Keep your guard up, parry! Attack! Block!"

I hoisted my sword up a little higher as the general circled me, eyes narrowed under his helmet. He lunged with his spear, aiming to skewer me, but I leapt aside and resisted the urge to fly up and out-of-the-way. After all, something told me that suddenly flying around in broad daylight right in front of Hyrule Castle wouldn't be such a great idea.

I cursed as I realized he'd backed me up against the fence the arena was enclosed in, leaving no room to maneuver. Thinking quickly as he swung the spear around in a long, sweeping arc, I clambered onto the top of the fence and balanced, crouching slightly to lower my center of gravity.

"Hmm. That was certainly unexpected. Very good use of your surroundings!" My teacher bellowed, raising his weapon in an attempt to knock me down. I grinned and leapt, landing both feet first directly on top of the shaft of the spear. It promptly snapped under my weight and I took the opportunity to tuck and roll around the general, ending with my sword at his neck.

"Good, good! You've certainly improved! I like how you used the terrain to your advantage. Though next time, please don't break my weapon. These things aren't cheap, you know." He said, laughing heartily.

I rolled my eyes and sheathed my sword, exiting the arena to where Dark was teaching Vaati street fighting. They broke apart from their sparring when I approached, and I grinned at how red-faced with frustration my best friend looked, since we wasn't exactly one to get physical with his bare fists. On the other hand, my brother had an air about him that made it seem as if he was enjoying Vaati's frustration immensely, which, if I knew my brother, he probably was.

"Hey, Shadow! Congrats on finally beating him!" Vaati exclaimed. I was the last of the three of us who hadn't beaten the older man in a fight during the past year and a half of training, and they teased me about it relentlessly. But in my defense, Dark was extremely strong and could actually use a shield strategically, which Vaati had his magic and throwing knives. He also kind of cheated and threw his cloak over the man's head to blind him.

"Yeah, now you can't tease me about anymore! Ha!" I replied, punching his arm lightly. Then the three of us laughed and collapsed down to the soft grass under a nearby tree, welcoming the cool darkness.

* * *

_Dark: Age 18_

_Shadow: Age 16_

_Vaati: Age 16_

_Castle Town, Telma's Bar_

After running a few errands for Telma before the bar opened, she rewarded us with a free meal and a few rupees, which were stashed away in the folds of Vaati's voluminous cloak. Then she said gave her usual talk about how we were to "Come back anytime, ya hear? You'll always be welcome at my bar, kids."

However, when Dark opened the door for us to leave, we were met with the wonderful sight of the business end of a sword. Wonderful. This was _not_ going to go down well if the owner of said sword was gonna do what I thought he was gonna do...

"Hands up! This is a robbery! Hand over your money and nobody gets hurt. Got it?" The guy with a sword pointed at Dark's neck yelled, presumably the leader.

Crud. They were doing what I thought they were gonna do.

Utter silence fell as the thieves entered the bar, all of them huge and menacing with scars and weapons and ugly, twisted faces. I think one of them even had a fake leg, which thumped heavily on the stone floor. Heh, talk about stereotypical.

"Kid! Give up all your money!" One of them suddenly barked out, pointing at Dark. He looked startled for a moment, then glared and spat out his response.

"Don't have any, numskull. Ain't that obvious? If I did I'd have better clothes than these rags." He said, gesturing to his patched and tattered old traveling cloak. It had been scavenged from behind the tailor's shop, and was pretty beat up and worn.

"Don't talk back teh me, kid, unless ya got a death wish." the thief growled, narrowing his eyes at my brother. I knew what Dark was doing, but it was a dangerous gamble- he was trying to gain their attention and distract them long enough for us to escape. Ha. As if we'd ever leave him behind.

"Guys, get out of here before they notice you." Our brother hissed out of the corner of his mouth, eyes darting towards the door. We frowned and narrowed our eyes, saying quite clearly _yeah right._

The leader scrutinized Dark carefully, then motioned to one of the other guys behind him. The other guy grinned, showing off crooked yellow teeth, then stepping forward and in one fluid movement hurled a throwing knife straight at Dark's head.

If he hadn't gone intangible when he did, our brother would now be skewered like meat on a stick. As it was the blade got much too close for comfort, less than a foot away from his head before it passed right through.

Unfortunately, as Vaati and I had moved behind him, the knife was now on a direct course for- you guessed it -me. Automatically reacting without a second thought I flew directly upwards, hovering somewhere up by the ceiling.

But by doing that I'd inadvertently endangered Vaati, who had stood behind me. Luckily for him, he was able to trap it mere inches from his nose in a small sphere of wind. He'd really been improving on his magic lately, an effort that probably saved his life.

Dead silence fell across the room as every eye was glued to Dark, who was as transparent as a ghost, me, who was hovering up by the rafters, and Vaati, standing with the knife floating gently in a ball of wind.

Just then, all Hell broke loose.

The thieves rushed us, thundering across the stone and yelling fearsome battle cries. Or, well, it would have been fearsome if most of them hadn't tripped over tables or chairs in the tight quarters.

Dark, still in "ghost form", as we called it, just floated in front of them and yelled "Boo!" This caused them to suddenly stop in their tracks, turn around, and run for the hills. It was actually pretty funny, even if we were all surprised at how easy that was. I guess they were just overly superstitious or something.

Awkward silence fell over the room as all eyes turned towards the doorway, where the door was now hanging off its hinges and creaking forlornly.

"...Kids, how would you like to join our group? We meet here every so often, and we could really use some people of your abilities..."

* * *

_Dark: Age 18_

_Shadow: Age 16_

_Vaati: Age 16_

_Castle Town, Main Plaza_

A prickling feeling suddenly ran down my spine as I sat on a rooftop, observing the plaza. My head shot up, instinctively turning towards the Castle. I saw that Dark and Vaati seemed to have the same sense of impending doom, though for a few seconds it looked as if we were all jumping at nothing.

Unfortunately, that was when twilight decided to come several hours too early.

But unlike the usual twilight, which felt familiar and comforting, this darkness just felt... wrong, somehow. I didn't know how, but it just seemed wrong. Usually the shadows are a refuge, something to take solace in for us. We were creatures of darkness, much more than the average hylian, and we knew it. That was why this unnatural twilight felt so wrong. It felt as if it had once been beautiful, serene, but was twisted into something darker and evil.

This wasn't a regular twilight. It was a cursed twilight, and something in my gut told me that when it finished descending, the consequences would not be pretty.

In a matter of moments black squares filled the air, seeming to rise up from the ground itself. The people vanished, the fountain stopped working, and the air suddenly became very, very still.

I shot an apprehensive look at Dark, instinctively seeking comfort and reassurance from my older brother. Vaati's eyes were wide with fear, and he sat rooted to his spot. Dark pulled us both in close to him, so much that I could feel his muscles tensing up.

That was when the transformations started.

First, a blinding pain shot through my body, and was answered with a searing heat from the back of my left hand. I glanced at the skin and gasped in shock when my upside-down triforce marking suddenly pulsed, glowing silver in time to my heartbeat. The upper right-hand triangle in particular glowed particularly brightly, but before I could really process this phenomenon the still air was shattered with a piercing scream.

It came from the three of us simultaneously, echoing hollowly in the still air. We screamed again as we felt our very skeletons being rearranged, then fell to our knees in pain. I gasped as fur suddenly sprouted all over my body and my face lengthened, my eyes slanted...

When the transformation was complete, I let out a pain-filled howl and collapsed, slipping into unconsciousness. I saw a flash of black fur in my peripheral vision, and a heap of pale lavender beyond that, then... darkness.


	2. We Have ANOTHER Brother!

**Sorry this is so late! I've just been really busy lately... yeah, lame excuse. Please let me know what you think, and if I got their twilight forms right! Especially Vaati's 'cause I didn't really know what would fit him. I also tried to keep Midna and Zant in character, but I don't write them very often. Thanks!  
**

**Almost forgot: Many thanks to the guest SwordspiritFi9 for being the first (and only) reviewer!**

**EDIT: Reposted to add a detail to Vaati's appearamce that I forgot in the first version.**

**Disclaimer: See previous chapter.**

* * *

The first thing that registered was the cold.

A shiver ran through my body, a result of the freezing cold cobblestone beneath my flank.

Wait... flank? Cobblestone? Oh, ****.

The recollection of my transformation hit me full on and I snapped open my eyes.

My first thought upon observing my surroundings was _oh no, not again, _which refers to the Trio's first wonderful trip to a nice, comfy prison cell. (Note the sarcasm). It was... an interesting adventure, to say the least.

However, now is not the time for storytelling. The much more immediate problem at hand was that I was now facing with three very pressing concerns, which were as follows:

1) I had transformed into a wolf and didn't know how to turn back

2) I was in a prison cell with a chain around my leg

3) I had no idea where the others were and was starting to panic slightly

4) I didn't know if my abilities worked in this new form

(Wait, that was four problems... eh, whatever.)

Numbers two, three and four were easily solved when I managed to collapse into one of the many shadows clinging the edges of the walls, thus neatly slipping out of the chain. I then slipped through the bars in shadow form (A.K.A. Shadow the black puddle, as Vaati had dubbed it) and exited the cell.

From there, I found myself in a long, narrow corridor with flickering torches placed in rusty metal brackets on the walls every couple of yards or so. The cells were placed along the wall across from the torches, and I could see Dark and Vaati farther down. Vaati's lavender colored fur stood out in sharp contrast against the darkened room, but Dark blended with the shadows and was nearly impossible to see.

My older brother was a wolf as well, with jet-black fur and grey markings on his flank and a grey, tree-like design on his forehead, right between his eyes. As he stirred and sat up I saw that his eyes were the same piercing red they'd always been, almost exactly as they'd been when he was hylian.

"Shadow? Where are we?" He asked, looking around in confusion. I yipped and wagged my tail happily, gaining comfort from the fact that I wasn't alone now.

"Um, I think we're in the dungeons. Again. Only this time we're wolves, as far as I can tell." I replied. He cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brow, sitting up and fully taking in his surroundings. Then the full implications of my words stuck me.

"Oh, Goddesses, we're _wolves._ How in the name of Farore are we going to change back? We'll be stuck like this forever!" I howled dramatically, struggling to prevent a full-blown panic attack. Dark just sighed and rolled his eyes, already used to my overly dramatic antics.

"And you just realized this _now_? Gee, great timing. Shadow, you are just such an idiot sometimes..." he muttered, turning ghostly and floating out of the cell. I huffed in indignation and trotted over to Vaati, marveling to myself at how I just instinctively knew how to move along on four paws without tripping. Wolf instincts were awesome.

The former hylian was now a panther with lavender colored fur that transitioned to dark purple on the legs so that the fur gradually darkened as you went further down, as well as the same t-shaped markings under his red eyes as in hylian form. He also had a dark purple tipped tail that gradually lightened to lavender at the base, not unlike the time between night and day when dawn is breaking just over the horizon. That phrase would also describe the way his fur darkened at the paws. Finally, he sported a dark purple upside down crescent shape on his forehead, like a wide bowl.

At the moment, Vaati was attempting to figure out a method of escape from the steel manacle, with little success. He looked up when we approached, yowling happily and bounding forwards as far as the chain allowed.

"Shadow! Dark! Where are we? And how in the name of Farore are we animals?!" He mewed, sounding slightly hysterical. Dark sighed and answered with "Castle dungeons, I don't know. Now stand back so Shadow can blast the chain."

That shut him up pretty quick, and our adoptive brother quickly moved back into a far corner.

Now, one of my other abilities is that I can summon an unlimited amount of bombs from nowhere. Don't ask how, 'cause I don't know. I just can, end of story.

However, due to the lack of opposable thumbs, when I summoned one in appeared in my mouth. I quickly spit it out (they always appear with the fuse already lit, for some reason) and rolled it through the bars, watching as it came to a stop against the chain. The fuse burned down to a centimeter, and I counted down inside my head.

3...

2...

1...

_BOOM!_ A small explosion blasted apart the metal links and Vaati grinned, now free. The manacle, unfortunately, was still attached, but there was only a short length (about three or four inches) of chain trailing along. Eh, it worked. Sort of. Good enough.

Using another bomb to blow apart the bars, Vaati exited through the newly created hole in the door and joined us, looking around the corridor and taking in what we'd already observed.

However, just as Dark opened his mouth to say something now that we were all together, a wolf that looked almost exactly like Dark came running towards us. He looked like a carbon copy of our oldest brother, except for the fringe of brown fur around his cheeks and the green stripe that ran down his spine. The top of his tail was green, as was his large mane, the bridge of his nose, and his forehead. The fur around his cheeks was grey and brown, but otherwise he and our brother were almost identical. I saw that he had a manacle around his leg as well, showing that he, too, had at one point been imprisoned as we had.

The next thing I saw was the odd, imp-like creature riding on his back. It had a weird helmet that covered one yellow and orange eye, with glowing orange hair that looked almost like a hand sticking out of the back. The imp-thing was also covered in swirling black and white patterns with strange blueish-greenish markings on its arms. I saw a single fang sticking out from a mischievous smile, and a smirk that instantly put me on my guard.

Vaati and I automatically flanked Dark on either side, taking up defensive positions. Unconsciously we growled and felt the fur on our backs rise up, and our hackles raised in preparation for an attack. Off-handedly I marveled at how _natural_ it felt to be growling like this. If I was still in hylian form I would have felt pretty silly. Guess it's all in the fangs.

Dark's double crouched down and did the same, with the imp's hair suddenly flaring up so that it arched forwards over its head. I jerked back, startled at this new development. Was the imp's hair... _alive?!_ What in the name of the Goddesses-?!

The imp broke into peals of laughter at my reaction, clutching its sides as if it was going to fall off the unfamiliar wolf's back. Then it startle giggling crazily, sounding insanely creepy and slightly sadistic. I snorted and backed away warily. Dark and Vaati had the same reaction. Even the green wolf looked slightly freaked out by the actions of his passenger.

An awkward silence fell once the imp quieted, the five of us at an impasse. Finally, Vaati made the first move after several minutes of just standing there and staring at each other.

"Uhh, did you guys happen to have any long-lost relatives you never told me about? 'Cause he looks just like you, Dark."

"Nope, not as far as I know. Unless somebody tried to clone me and royally screwed up, 'cause I'm not green."

I had to suppress a snort at that one. Picturing Dark with green hair and blue eyes... my mental image looked like some sort of weird prank gone wrong. Actually, that wasn't a bad prank idea... the blue eyes might be a problem, though...

I felt a shiver run down my spine as the imp cackled again, sounding even more maniacal than before. It was actually fell off the green wolf's back from laughter, but just hovered in the air instead of falling. Our eyes bugged out, and I was strongly reminded of myself and my habit of reclining in the air as if relaxing on the ground. Did this imp have similar abilities?

The other wolf growled at his companion, though he did look decidedly less hostile than before. It seemed as if he thought that if the imp was laughing instead of being nervous, than we weren't going to be a threat. He was still wary, though, and his eyes never left us as he flicked the imp with his tail. Well, at least he wasn't stupid.

Finally, the imp ceased giggling and floated back to its feet, twirling and letting out a decidedly girlish laugh.

"Ehehe! Well, well, well, what do we have here? More beasts, eh? Transformed by the twilight, I suppose. Hmmm... this is interesting... well, come along, then! What are you all doing just standing there?"

"..."

"What?"

The three of us stared, dumbfounded, at the sudden shift in demeanor from the imp, who was now seated on the green wolf's back and gesturing impatiently for us to follow. Well, that was sudden. I wondered if that thing was completely right in the head. Probably not, considering its actions.

Dark narrowed his eyes in suspicion, wary of this sudden mood swing. Was it trying to trick us, or lead us into a trap? If so, then we definitely weren't going to follow it. But if it could actually _help_ us, then that's a whole different story...

"Come along, I said! Don't worry, I won't bite! Though he might... well, how about this: if I help you escape, then you'll have to do _exactly_ as I say! Got it?" She (I had decided that it was female from the voice) said smugly, sounding confident that we would accept.

Well, since she wasn't going to do anything we couldn't do ourselves, then we didn't need her help. Never mind.

The three of us exchanged glances, silently coming to a unanimous agreement.

"Sorry, but we'll find our own way. Thanks for the offer, though. Maybe we'll see you around once we figure out how we're beasts. See ya." Dark replied, turning and trotting towards what I'm pretty sure was the general direction of the exit. Vaati and I followed, resisting the urge to look back.

We hadn't gotten more than a few yards when the other wolf spoke up for the first time.

"Wait! Uh, what are your names? I'm Link." He called out, sounding slightly desperate. I wondered why, then figured it was the stress from shapeshifting into an unfamiliar form judging by the very much human intelligence I saw in his blue eyes. Dark stopped and looked over his shoulder, answers short and concise.

"I'm Dark, the smaller wolf is Shadow, and the panther is Vaati. Bye."

With that, he walked up to the wall and began prodding at the base, uncovering a small tunnel. Gesturing to the two of us with his tail, Dark then proceeded to crawl in. Vaati and I followed without hesitation, having taken this way the last time we were in here. As I slipped under the wall I heard the Link and the imp arguing about whether or not to follow us, but all sound was cut off as we exited at the other side.

Dark nodded as I shook the dirt from my fur and continued on, the three of us falling into our familiar positions in formation with Dark at point, Vaati flanking him on the left and me flanking him on the right.

It took us a little over fifteen minutes of work our way out of the maze that was Hyrule Castle's dungeons, but it did take less than half the time it took us to escape the first time. Finally, after traveling through the seemingly endless labyrinth of tunnels and water-filled sewers, fighting off twisted rat-things every step of the way, we emerged through a hidden tunnel that opened up into a giant hole in the ground behind the castle in North Hyrule Field.

From there, we could either drop into Zora's River and hope that we didn't drown before being washed into Lake Hylia or just fly up and out of the hole. Naturally, what with the odd... uh, that did she call it...? Oh yeah, "twilight". And here I was thinking that twilight was just a time of the day. Anyway, what with all the weird twilight and black square things floating around, we decided to go check out the town and see what was going on with the residents.

Unfortunately, the moment we emerged from the hole and floated down to solid ground (Dark in ghost form, I was flying, and Vaati riding a tornado) we were surrounded by what looked like huge black spires of rock with strange markings on them. Impenetrable barriers then jumped between them, trapping us. Then a swirling black and red portal appeared in the sky and dropped down three black monsters.

They looked almost like deformed monkeys, but with stone slabs instead of heads and black dreadlocks. They also moved in a strange lunging motion and tried to slash at us with their spindly claws, and were covered in the same strange markings as the barrier.

Springing into action, we quickly took down two of them after taking a moment to get used to fighting in these forms. Unfortunately, after they slumped to the ground, the remaining third let out a horrible screech, so bad that we were temporarily paralyzed. Then, to our horror, it _resurrected_ the two dead creatures! What the ****!?

"Guys! We have to kill them all at the same time! Otherwise they'll just bring each other back to life again!" Dark howled after we'd accidentally left one alive again. Vaati and I nodded and the three of us each sprang at a different monster, biting and clawing but refraining from delivering the killing blow until Dark gave the signal.

Then all three of us attacked at the same time, viciously ripping out their necks. The creatures all slumped to the ground at the same time, exploding into tiny squares and vanishing back into the portal. The barriers disappeared and portal turned blue-green, but to our relief, no more monsters fell through.

Dark, Vaati, and I collapsed on the ground, panting heavily. We were all covered into scratches and cuts, with Vaati sporting a particularly nasty one across his side where one of the things had gotten a lucky hit in. But nothing was life-threatening, so we took the time of regain our energy and lick our wounds.

As we lay there, I reflected over all that had happened that day. First, we'd woken up in the dungeons as beasts. Then, we'd been attacked by black monster-things. Finally, before we were in the dungeons we'd seen a blanket of this unnatural "twilight" burst from the Castle and cover the entire town. If it kept spreading at the rate it was going, it was probably at the Ordon Province my now.

Unfortunately, at that moment the fish-headed man appeared. He was dressed in long black robes with green-blue designs on them and long fringes on the sleeves, plus grey armor on his shoulders and blocky brown shoes that looked painful to walk in. He also had a long, reddish tapestry-thing hanging down his chest. And, of course, who could miss the giant helmet shaped like the head of a fish.

My first thought when he showed up was _Is that guy sticking his tongue out at us?_ This was because on the helmet it looked as if the tongue curled inwards, but to me it looked like he was sticking it out. Of course, as I would soon find out, the tongue was curved outwards that way for a reason...

My next impression was one of danger. Now, I've heard that animals can use a "sixth sense" to tell good people from bad people and so on. So according to my wolfish instincts, this guy was seriously bad news. As in, he's-either-going-to-kill-me-horribly-and-painfull y-or-he's-going-to-torture-me-like-a-cat-with-a-mo use bad news.

Then the tongue of his helmet slid upwards with a _shingshingshing_ sound, like sliding metal. It somehow managed to sound as creepy as metal plates could sound, and revealed pale white lips that looked like they had diagonal cuts on each corner. I shuddered and felt the hair on my back stand straight up, pulling back my lips and growling aggressively.

"Ahhh, more light-dweller beasts," he said, spitting out the words light-dweller like they were something disgusting. "It seems that the Goddesses had more than one _pet._ No matter, the power from my god will crush you all. But I suppose that would be no fun... well then, go join your little friend. I believe he's just figured out where he is..."

With that, he waved his overly long sleeve and warped away, then somehow managed to teleport us to the air far above the Castle. To do so, we dissolved into the little black squares that were floating around from the top down, then just appeared in thin air. The sensation was... disorienting, to say the least.

Unfortunately, I didn't really have time to dwell on it, as I was more concerned with the rapid rate at which I was approaching the very sharp and pointy tower that would no doubt skewer me like a vendor's meat stick. Since I would prefer to keep my skin intact, I stopped my fall and hovered above it.

Vaati, who had appeared to my left, was riding on a small purple tornado that was his preferred method of travel. Dark was in ghost form below me, half in and half out of the tower wall. He winced every time the strong wind buffeted him, though, and had to fight to keep from being blown away. The driving rain probably didn't help either. Vaati's tornado was bucking like a wild pony, the winds uncooperative as they fought to join the storm around them. I was attempting to simply hover and to not get blown away by the wind.

The three of us alighted on the rooftop, wondering how this mysterious storm had sprung up out of nowhere and was somehow managing to hit only the Castle and North Castle Town, a very localized area. Looking back, I can't believe I didn't recognize the signs after living with a wind sorcerer, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a natural storm.

"Hey! Is that Link over there?" Vaati shouted over the wind, digging in his claws and narrowing his slitted eyes. I looked over to where he was indicating and felt a tremor of shock run through my paws as I recognized the blurry shape of a wolf and an imp standing on the roof by the northern tower. It didn't seem as if they saw us.

Dark nodded and began moving forward, working to find purchase on the slippery roof shingles. Luckily there was a break in the wind, which made it easier.

We got to them just as the imp looked like she'd finished a speech of some sort, and she looked over at us as if to say _You again?_

"Well, the little doggies and kitty decided that they wanted to tag along after all," she sneered. "How nice."

"Hey guys." Link said, pointedly ignoring the imp's rudeness. "Midna says that if I go back to the place that I entered to twilight from, I might be able to turn back into a hylian. Do you guys want to see if it'll work for you?"

The three of us exchanged glances. Goddesses, this guy trusted easily. That was going to get him into trouble someday... but still, never look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Sure, but technically we turned into animals over by the Plaza. But since we don't have any other leads, why not?" Dark replied. Midna looked a little miffed that we were tagging along, but twirled around and seemed to disappear as she rotated. Then the feeling of dissolving from the top down again, and I would have groaned if I still had a mouth to groan with. Ugh, I _hated_ warping...


	3. Captured Monkeys and the Forest Temple

**Sorry it took so long to update, I've been working on my other story. I'll be alternating between stories for updates, but it could take a while because I'm pretty busy right now. Thanks to HaloBramblestar for reviewing chapter two!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own, 'cause if I did, Shadow would be Dark's little brother and Vaati would be a good guy. Since that hasn't happened, I don't own LoZ.**

* * *

We appeared ankle-deep in clear spring water, surrounded by lush greenery and in front of a small waterfall. The area was, admittedly, quite beautiful. It looked almost like one of those magical spirit springs you'd find in a storybook.

I hated the place instantly.

The moment I was fully intact, I scrambled to get out of the area as fast as possible, trying to escape the horrible prickling feeling running over my fur and the innate sense of just plain wrongness I felt. Instincts told me that I didn't belong in that spring, just as they told me that the twilight was warped and unnatural. It was somebody else's territory, and I was an unwanted intruder.

Although, looking back, that probably wasn't the best move. For one, it was rather embarrassing. Secondly, even though Dark and Vaati did the exact same thing for apparently the exact same reasons, it still made Link very confused. He was also likely to have wondered about the state of our mental health with that little stunt.

"Uh, you guys okay?" Link called, confused and slightly worried. I grimaced and shook the water from my paws, splashing Vaati in the process, who hissed and flattened his ears.

"Yeah, we're alright. We're just, uh, gonna stay away from the spring, though." Dark called.

"Ha. Good thing, too. You wouldn't be able to get me near that thing for a million rupees." Vaati muttered, fur slightly puffed out so that he looked all prickly. Link just looked puzzled at our discomfort, since he clearly wasn't having any problems. Weird...

I pricked my ears and scented the air, smelling an odd combination of something I couldn't identify and a strange musty smell, a bit like dust. Later, as I grew more adept at honing my wolf senses, this smell would be remembered as the scent of the cursed twilight. But I pushed it to the back of my mind, ignoring it in favor of getting the water off my paws.

Link huffed in laughter and shook his fur, walking out of the spring. However, just he was exiting, Midna popped up in what looked like a shadowy version of her normal self from his shadow, not unlike what I would do. Hmm... I wondered if she had the same abilities as I did...

"Eee hee hee! Did you think I'd disappeared? Listen, there's another thing I forgot to tell you… Don't think you can just run off and save your friends… because you can't. Just beyond that bridge is the land covered in twilight. Last time, a shadow beast pulled you through the curtain of twilight… But if you want to go that way this time, you'll need the cooperation of someone FROM the twilight… like me! So you really have no choice but to do what I say!

"Saving your friends and all that… well, that'll depend on your actions… Because you never can trust words, you know. Right now, I want a sword and shield that'll suit me. You do understand me, don't you? Eee hee hee! So, what do you plan to do? While you're here dawdling, the twilight continues to expand. Come on! Hurry it up!" Midna said, disappearing back into Link's shadow after her little speech.

I snorted, slightly annoyed by the imp's haughty way of talking. She acted as if she was the center of the world, and that everybody had to obey her. So annoying!

Link sighed and rolled his eyes, but walked down the path to what I presumed to be his village anyway. After all, the imp was right- she was the only way he had to get out of his wolf form. And since she was also our only hope as well, I figured tagging along couldn't hurt. Dark had the same idea, and together we followed Link down the narrow trail.

* * *

Several bokoblins and one freaked out villager complete with dive-bombing hawk later, the group had split up. Dark and Vaati had gone to retrieve a shield from somebody's (I can't remember his name) house, and Link and I were going after the sword. Unfortunately, as the location of the sword was guarded by none other than Link's mentor, we were having some trouble. I just hoped that Dark and Vaati weren't running into as many problems as we were.

The main problem was that even though the guy threatened to pretty much cut our heads off if we got too close, Link was... emotionally compromised, let's say. Unwilling to aggravate his mentor and father-figure, this left us with very few options. So eventually, I just told him to stay out of sight and went to go get the stupid thing myself.

After shadow-traveling under the door, it was easy to grab the sword off the couch. From there, I just shadow-traveled back. Unfortunately, it seemed that Dark and Vaati had caused some sort of commotion over on their end, so I exited to the sounds of angry yelling.

A second later Vaati popped out of an open window on top of the watermill house with Dark following close behind. The young sorcerer had a wooden shield on his back, which was embossed with a goat horn design- probably to represent the village. The two of them leapt across the rooftops towards us, then dashed for the village exit. Link and I followed on their heels.

* * *

After Link had an interesting conversation with the light spirit of Ordon Spring, which Dark, Vaati, and I stayed well away from, Midna informed us that we would have to go back into the twilight that covered Faron Woods. Oh joy. So once we were pulled again into the twilight, we began heading north towards the heart of the forest.

However, upon reaching the Faron Woods spirit spring, Link saw what looked like a shimmering golden mist that seemed to "call" to him. So of course he went over, without a single thought that it could have been a trap.

Then the mist started talking to him. Go figure. I guess weird things just seem to happen around Link for some reason. So according to our all-knowing golden mist guy, we now had to go track down a bunch of bugs that were running around the woods that had stolen the spirit's light. Yippee.

By the way, did I mention that I hate bugs?

* * *

One restored light spirit later, Link had a new outfit that gave me a strange sense of déjà vu when I saw it. Unfortunately, since we'd forgotten that it was only Link that had been transformed in Faron Woods and not us, we had to wait until we got back to Castle Town and the Lanaryu Region to get our hylian forms back. Therefore, we were still furry. Wonderful.

Although, now that I think about it, being a wolf really wasn't that bad. I mean, I still had all my shadow powers, and it wasn't as if we were particularly handicapped. In fact, I think I was actually stronger physically in my wolf form than in my hylian one. Huh. Though I did miss having opposable thumbs.

Anyway, Link was listening to the giant golden glowing monkey-thing while examining his new clothes. In the meantime, Dark, Vaati, and I were tracking down food. Seeing as the last time we'd eaten was at least a day before, we were all pretty darn hungry. Luckily, this forest seemed to have an abundance of fat brown rabbits.

Unfortunately, because of our distinct lack of fingers in our animal forms, Link had to be the one to make a fire to cook them. This meant that he spent a good five minutes simply hunting for a sparkstone in his new clothes, which was eventually found in one of several magically enlarged pouches that came with the outfit.

After that he spent another five minutes searching for sticks to roast to rabbits with, while taking yet another two minutes to sharpen them. By that time, the three of us were practically salivating.

Finally, after the food was eaten and we were all happy and full, Link informed us that we would have to go to some old temple in the woods for some obscure reason that I don't remember. I think it did have something to do with Midna and some evil power, but I wasn't really paying attention.

However, before we were going to do that, Link wanted to go back to the village and check on Rusl. Which was understandable, I suppose. After all, the last time he'd seen the man was as a wolf, during which time we'd been trying to steal a sword from his house. Add that the villagers were talking about kidnapped children the last time we were there and this all made Link pretty worried. So that meant that we'd be paying a visit to Ordon.

Midna, for her part, wasn't too thrilled about this, but understood that it would be beneficial to go back as we could stock up on supplies while we were there. Unfortunately, Link had overlooked one very important fact.

We were still animals, the same animals that had stolen a sword and shield from them not a day before. Which meant that we would be attacked on sight if we stepped foot into the village, which meant that we had to stay in the woods.

Now, we were actually fine with this. Since we didn't really know anybody and they didn't really know us, the four of us all walking in together would have looked a bit strange. Especially as Dark and I were wolves, and Vaati was a panther. A purple panther. Not exactly the common color scheme of your average big cat.

So after Link had gone off in a southerly direction, Midna had decided to stick around as Dark's shadow. Now, since I was the only other person who could do that, I decided to do a bit of an experiment. Could two of us share the same shadow at the same time?

One short scuffle and forced expulsion later, the answer was no. Midna, who was a bit trigger-happy, apparently wasn't a sharing person and had blasted me out with some weird orangish-greenish-blueish magic that reminded me a bit of the cursed twilight, but of a purer form.

"Goddesses, you could have just said leave. Now my tail hurts." I grumbled, shaking the dust from my fur. Midna popped her head up and stuck her tongue out at me, then vanished in a flash of black shadows. I snorted, then stuck my paw through and rapped her on the head. A muffled "Ow!" echoed up from the shadow dimension she was in, giving me a slight sense of satisfaction.

"Really, Shadow? Was that seriously necessary?" Dark asked, rolling his eyes. Vaati snickered, tail tip flicking from side to side.

"Yes. Yes it was." I answered back, grinning smugly. My brother just tipped his head back and gazed heavenward, as if to ask Great Goddesses, why me?

* * *

About an hour later, we had just gotten a free lantern from Coro plus a 100 rupee bottle of lantern oil. Personally, I thought that was a total ripoff. I mean, who pays 100 rupees for a lantern and a bottle of oil? But since it was Link's money, I wasn't about to start complaining.

Hiking through the woods, we eventually made our way back to the poisonous swamp where we'd found several of those nasty twilight bug things. Unfortunately, since Link was no longer a wolf, we couldn't jump across. That problem, however, was quickly solved by a thieving monkey.

At first, the three of us were about to pounce on her until she said that she knew how to cross the fog and would help us get across. Since we had no other option and she seemed trustworthy, we agreed.

Link, having followed our lead, looked at her strangely before shrugging and following the monkey into the fog.

It took about ten minutes or so to safely cross to the other side, where the empty lantern was deposited on the ground. The monkey then ran off into the woods, disappearing before we could get some answers. After all, in our experience, people don't just help out of the goodness of their hearts. Usually they'll want something in return.

Once we'd unlocked the gate and crossed over to where the path leading up to the temple was, we were met with an unusual sight.

A golden wolf was sitting in the middle of the path, blocking us. And I don't mean a wolf with yellowish-tan fur, I mean an actual golden wolf that glowed. It stood and started growled once we approached, and seemed to focus especially on Dark and Link. The three of us raised our hackles and growled right back, though Vaati was making more a hissing sound. Link unsheathed his sword and lowered into a battle stance, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet.

I saw the wolf tense its haunches a second before it leapt for Link's head, to fast to call out a warning. But before Link got his head chomped off, the wolf just... faded into nothing. I blinked in confusion, wondering if we'd just imagined the entire thing. Maybe the stress was getting to me...

A second later Link crumpled to the ground, out cold. Midna popped out of his shadow and frowned, hovering over the downed hylian.

"Hmmm... looks like he couldn't handle a little doggie..." she muttered before diving back into his shadow. Dark trotted over and nosed him, then came back when it was established that the guy was fine.

"What the heck made him pass out like that, though?" I muttered. Vaati frowned and flattened his ears, tail lashing from side to side.

"I can sense powerful magic in the air, hovering around him. My guess is that the wolf put some sort of magically-induced sleep spell on him for whatever reason," he said. Since Vaati was the only sorcerer we had (Midna didn't really count, since she used a completely different brand of magic) we went with his theory.

"So when will he wake up?" Dark asked. Vaati sighed and sat down, shrugging his shoulders.

"Whenever the spell wears off or the wolf releases him. So it could be anywhere from a week from now to sometime in the next two seconds."

I exhaled slowly. "Well, that's wonderful. So, guess that means there's nothing to do but wait then, huh?"

"Yup."

With that, we settled down in front of the prone form of Link and waited. Luckily, it only took about twenty minutes before he woke up.

With Sleeping Beauty finally awake, we made our way up the path to the temple. There were a couple bokoblins guarding the place, but they were dispatched easily. Link did this fancy front flip thing before landing with his sword point first in the downed monster that had me raise an eyebrow. That move was pretty advanced, which meant that Link was a better swordsman that I thought. He even did a backflip off and landed without stumbling!

The giant spiderweb covering the entrance was burned away by Link's lantern, which he'd refilled with the bottle of lantern oil. However, upon entering, the first thing Vaati saw was two small spiders crawling around on the vines directly in front of us.

"Ugh," he muttered. "I hate spiders..."

* * *

The baboon looked around like it didn't know how it had gotten there, which led me to believe that the strange bug/parasite thing was possessing it somehow. Then it hopped out a gap in the wall, screaming confused gibberish the entire time. Link scooped up the boomerang and gave it an experimental throw, watching as it curved around the room on a mini tornado that reminded me of how Vaati would fly before returning to his hand.

"That boomerang is a powerful magical artifact, infused not only with wind magic but with the power of the Fairy of Winds that resides in it. This'll be useful." Vaati commented, inspecting the boomerang. Of course he would like it, he's a wind sorcerer.

* * *

After saving yet another monkey (seriously, how many were there?) we had finally gotten them all. However, once Link realized how they intended for him to get to the room with the "great evil" inside of it, he immediately began backing away.

"Ohhh no. No, no, no, no, no. You can't seriously be expecting me to do this," he said nervously. The monkeys chattered at him impatiently, saying things along the lines of "Hurry up! We can't just hang here all day, y'know!" and stuff like that.

I grinned evilly, knowing that Link really didn't have a choice. "Come on, it'll be fun. Besides, if you fall, we'll catch you. Dark and I can fly and Vaati's a wind sorcerer. You'll be perfectly safe."

Vaati purred and began circling Link, slowly herding him towards the edge. Dark followed close behind, a wolfish smirk tugging at the edges of his lips.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine. It's the same as all the swinging you did before. Now go before we have to push you off!"

Link just looked at us strangely, unable to understand us as a hylian. But it seemed that he'd gotten the message, and sighed in defeat. Link took a running leap and was easily caught, swinging back and forth a few times to gain momentum before letting go and landing safely on the platform.

I snickered. "See, that wasn't so hard at all." Of course, this came out as a few yips and a bark, but I think he got the message. Vaati floated over on a whirling purple tornado while Dark and I flew. Meanwhile, Link had procured a fairy and was sealing it into the jar which had previously held lantern oil.

The door before us that housed the evil we were looking for was very large and intimidating, especially with the giant padlock crisscrossing across the doorway. The lock itself was larger than my head, and fell to the floor with a loud clang that echoed across the chamber when Link inserted a large ornate key. "Well, this is it. Ready, guys?" he asked nervously. The poor guy had probably never seen anything scarier than the twilit monsters we'd faced before, and if the light spirit's warning was anything to go by, this would be ten times worse.

Dark barked an affirmative and turned ghostly, passing through the doorway first. Then he poked his head through and barked, saying "Come on! Hurry up or you'll wimp out!"

Link, grinning slightly at the sight of Dark's furry head sticking through the door, gripped the large wooden slab and rolled it out-of-the-way. Then we entered the lair of the Forest Temple's great evil.

The cavernous room was fairly large, with a short platform of land where we were standing and thick roots covering the walls. A strange purple swamp was dominating the northern half of the room, with purple waterfalls thundering down into it. I gingerly sniffed the air and recoiled, scenting the putrid stink of decay and poison.

Link cautiously walked forward to the edge of the water (?) and crouched down, examining it. Then it began to bubble, and the hylian quickly scrambled away. A second later, two giant deku baba heads erupted from the water, spraying droplets all over the place. None of us escaped the spray, and it hissed and steamed wherever it struck clothes or fur. The giant heads roared at us, swaying from side to side like deadly snakes.

Thus, the battle against the Twilit Parasite Diababa began.


	4. The Land to the West

**Yay! New chapter! Sorry if I'm making Shadow seem smarter than he is, but I really wanted to put that in. Anyway, thanks to Cheza the Flower Maiden and ultima-owner for reviewing!**

**To Cheza the Flower Maiden: Um, sort of, I guess. It's dialogue, but not really between them. Actually, it's kind of one-sided... anyway, you'll see in this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own, but I wish I did.**

* * *

"WHAT THE- THIS THING SPITS ACID?! HOLY #$%#$%#!" Vaati Shrieked girlishly. I snickered at him and he glared, then I yelped as a jet of acid just barely missed my ear.

"Guys! Focus! Now is not the time to tease each other!" Dark growled, going insubstantial.

The two giant baba heads were now joined by one much larger baba head, which was the one that spit acid. It was also twice the size of the others, and harder to evade. The bomblings, which had been helpful in hurting the two smaller heads before, had sunk into the acid and were probably just little bits of dissolved something by now. I couldn't get close enough to use my bombs without getting bitten in half, and Link couldn't throw that far.

Luckily, are problem was solved when the baboon from earlier swooped in, carrying a bombling of all things. He was chattering away the entire time, but I only caught bits and pieces of it over the sound of roaring and hissing.

Link threw the boomerang, which whistled under the baboon. The baboon then dropped the bombling in the small twister as it went by, continuing on to explode in the giant baba's face. Ouch. That must have hurt.

The middle head roared in pain and collapsed onto the ground, its mouth opening and an eyeball on the end of its tongue (what the fudge?) flopping out. Seriously, what was the anatomical value of having an eyeball on your tongue of all places? What would you ever get to see besides your teeth and your food?

Anyway, eyeballs on unorthodox locations aside, this eyeball was recognized as the monster's weak spot and immediately attacked, with Link slashing away with his sword, Vaati sending blades of wind at it, and Dark and I clawing at the thing. Against our combined onslaughts, Diababa didn't stand a chance.

The mouth snapped closed and the head reared up, thrashing in pain. Then it suddenly froze and began to shrivel, turning black and twisted. It was like watching a plant being burned in a fire, only without the flames. A horrible crackling noise echoed from the monster as it finally stopped, then it exploded into a million tiny squares of twilight that reformed themselves into what looked like oddly shaped metal plates covered in intersecting designs.

The purple acid began to dissolve, fading back into clear fresh water. The air cleared and was no longer dark and gloomy, while the entire cavern now resembled a larger version of the spirit springs rather than the oppressive monster's lair it had been before.

Midna was saying something about Fused Shadows and great evil, but I wasn't really paying attention. I was more occupied with drinking from the spring that had just appeared. After all, this was the first thing I'd drank since we entered the temple almost a day ago. Vaati was swimming in the deeper part, washing the grime from his fur. Ha. He always had been a bit vain. Always the cleanest and the most focused on his appearance.

Dark was actually napping, lying half in and half out of the water. I wagged my tail and trotted over, splashing him a little. When it was evident that my brother was well and truly asleep, I shrugged and leapt into the air. Then I free-fell into the pool, making a massive splash that sent waves rippling from my entry point.

"Ach! What was that for?" Vaati sputtered indignantly, having inhaled some water when a wave slapped his muzzle.

"What? It was a cannonball." I barked, swimming over. Link looked at us and chuckled, then gestured to the swirling blue twilit portal that Midna had probably made. Dark growled and sat up, blinking the sleep from his eyes.

"Whazzat?" He yawned, shaking out his fur and padding over.

"It's a portal that'll take us back the Faron Spirit Spring so we don't have to go all the way back through," he replied. I swam over and peered at it curiously, noting the resemblance to the twilit portals that randomly appeared in the sky and dropped shadow beasts on us.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go! I want to get out of this place already!" Vaati grumbled, having absolutely hated the cobwebs that got stuck in his fur.

With that we crowded around the portal, which flashed quickly and deposited us back in the spring.

However, instead of feeling as if I was enemy territory like before, this time I actually felt... welcomed. Sort of. Like I was allowed to be there, but whoever allowed it wasn't too thrilled with me. It was similar to the feeling that we had gotten whenever we went to the library, or any other public place, since everyone knew we were obviously street kids but weren't allowed to kick us out because technically the place was open to everyone.

Goddesses, can anybody say run-on sentence?

Anyway, any thoughts on this were halted when the light spirit of this region, a giant golden monkey-thing, appeared on a swirling ball of golden light. It seemed to ignore my brothers and I for the moment, instead focusing on Link.

"Heroic Link... Do not think that Hyrule is now saved from the spread of twilight... Leave these woods and go to the west, where you will find the land protected by  
the spirit Eldin. There you will find those you seek... But know that these lands lie in twilight... They are now a dark realm covered by the clouds of dusk. If you set foot beyond the curtains of twilight, you will revert to your beast form, so be prepared. Hero chosen by the gods, leave these woods and go west, to the land of the spirit Eldin," it told the green-clad hylian.

Then it turned to us three and I wondered what it would say. The spirit seemed to exude an aura of holiness and pure light, which clashed with my preference of sticking to the shadows.

"Young sorcerers, you must accompany the chosen hero to the lands in the west... The Goddesses have granted you a second chance to right ancient wrongs... by atoning for your sins... you must accompany the chosen hero... And if you wish to regain your hylian forms, then accompany the chosen hero on his journey, for it is inevitable that you return to the Lanaryu region..." Then the spirit faded away, leaving us all utterly confused.

"What in the name of Farore-? What 'ancient wrongs'? The only sins I can think of are stealing, but I'm pretty sure that's not what it meant..." Vaati mused, tail-tip twitching from side to side as he thought.

Just then, Midna popped out of Link's shadow, and, completely ignoring the rest of us, began speaking to the blonde.

"That's better. Searching should be much easier now. Eee hee! But... Of course, you feel the need to go help the other light spirits, don't you? Well, don't worry. When you turn into a beast again, I'll take good care of you. The first thing you need to do is find the land covered in twilight. Once you do, I'll help you out. Eee hee hee! See you later!" Then she dove back down, melting into the ground.

Link just raised an eyebrow at his shadow, as if wondering what exactly Midna meant by the phrase "When you turn into a beast again, I'll take good care of you." I don't know why, but something about her tone when she said it made me shiver slightly.

Link cleared his throat slightly uncomfortably and glanced at us, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Well, I guess that means we have to east, then. I think the Eldin region is actually more northeast, though, which means that we have to go through Hyrule Field," he said. The four of us then exited the spring, heading north to Hyrule Field.

* * *

The twilight was, in a sense, actually quite beautiful. It was quiet, serene, and peaceful.

At least, it was until the twilight monsters started popping up. Twilit bokoblins at the gate to Kakariko, shadow beasts in front of the spring, twilit kargaroks that sound like out-of-tune trumpets... every animal that infested the fields in the Light World was twisted and deformed by the cursed twilight, blackened until they were barely recognizable as what they were before.

Another conversation with the light spirit Eldin later, we went bug hunting. Again. In a ghost town. In the cursed twilight.

Needless to say, it was a bit creepy. Especially when we found the kids from Link's village, in spirit form. That was just weird.

But honestly, I think I'm actually getting used to it. Running around, fighting monsters as a wolf, traveling with Link... I know we've only been with each other for, like, five days, but it feels like longer. I don't know why, but the four of us just mesh well together. Huh.

Anyway, after Link had howled an oddly familiar tune at what looked a rock with a hole in it, he'd come back from the spirit world saying something about the golden wolf from before saying something about finding him when he was in hylian form or something.

Finally, we found all the tears of light and the blanket of twilight was gone, leaving Kakariko Village and the Eldin Region once again firmly in the Light Realm.

* * *

A tearful reunion, failed talk with the gorons, and one escaped horse later, Link was riding across Hyrule Field back towards Ordon Village with the three of us running beside him. Vaati, however, who wasn't built for long-distance running, was riding a funnel of wind.

However, when we got to the Ordon spirit spring, the golden wolf from before was there. Link reined in Epona and dismounted when he saw it, walking forwards. The golden wolf just looked at him nodded, then turned to us three.

"Wind Sorcerer, Living Shadows," he rumbled. The three of us exchanged puzzled glances. What did he mean by "Living Shadows"? "I've been waiting for you. I knew you all in past lives, and you also knew me. You may not recognize me now, but I recognize you. However, I will only say this: do not mess up. Do not succumb to darkness. If you successfully atone for you past sins, you will not be cast into the abyss like you were before. Do not mess up."

With that, he leapt at Link's head, seeming to go into the Hero's body. Link crumpled to the ground like before, though this time he was out a bit longer than last time.

* * *

When Link returned from his meeting with the Mayor, Bo, he had new boots made out of solid iron. Actually, it was just pieces of iron attached to regular boots, but on the outside they looked like solid iron. And they definitely felt like solid iron, too! Thank the goddesses for magical pouches.

Anyway, once we were back at Kakariko, Renado insisted that we relax and stay the night before going on to talk to the gorons. Since we were all pretty tired and Renado was one of the few people who didn't freak out at the sight of my brothers and I as animals, Link accepted. Midna wasn't too thrilled by this, but the hero just retorted that if we went barging in when it was getting dark like it was now and all tired out and hungry like we were, we would only get ourselves killed. And that would be counterproductive.

Unable to fault this logic, Midna grudgingly agreed. After all, her wolfboy would be no use to her dead. However, that didn't mean she had to like it.

Unfortunately, there was one unexpected problem: the kids. Once they'd gotten over the shock to seeing two wolves and a panther walk into the house, they'd been all over us- petting, tugging our fur, cooing over how cute we were (actually, it was just Beth that did this) and asking Link about where he'd found us, what were our names, etc etc.

Since the three of us were really not social people, all the attention was a little overwhelming. I had to stop myself from growling in irritation more than once, and I could tell that Vaati's already short temper was wearing thin. Since an agitated wind sorcerer was definitely not what we wanted, Link finally stepping in to give us a bit of breathing room.

Consequently, after dinner, I disappeared to explore the village, not wanted to go through all that attention again. While I'll admit that the scratching behind the ears felt nice, the way they were fawning over me made me feel like a puppy.

Vaati finally found me on top of the cliffs that surrounded the village, curled up on my side and just observing the little town. Most of its residents had left after a bad famine had gone through a few years ago, so the only permanent residents were Renado and his daughter Luda.

"Where's Dark?" I asked. The big cat just chuckled and nodded in the direction of the old inn, where our older brother was hiding on the roof. The kids were playing around in the street, laughing and throwing around an old ball they'd dug up from somewhere. The night sky was beautiful, midnight blue and speckled with millions of tiny twinkling silver stars. The moon the round and full, a softly glowing pale white disc. I had a sudden irrational urge to start howling at it.

I'd always felt more at home in the night, where there were shadows to blend with and darkness to hide in. Dark was the same way, though Vaati liked to be flashy and in the spotlight.

"What do you think the Resistance is doing right now?" Vaati asked abruptly. I started slightly, feeling guilty. I hadn't even thought of the group that we'd joined, vigilantes that worked to make Hyrule a better place in general.

"I don't know. I'd guess that Telma's serving drunk soldiers, Ashei and Shad are probably talking, and Auru would be examining those maps of his," I replied. The panther purred, making a throaty sound that was the cat version of laughter.

"Yeah, probably," he agreed. "Hey, do you think they've asked that new guy yet? They were talking about how he seemed nice, remember? They were going to ask if he wanted to join. From what they said it sounded like he had all the right ideals and stuff, but the only problem was that he didn't come to Castle Town often."

"Oh yeah, I remember that guy. What was his name... Ruddy? Rannel? I don't remember, but it did start with R," I barked. "Yeah, he was nice. Be a good addition to the group. Heard he was from far south, or something like that. Hey, wouldn't it be funny if he was from Link's village? I mean, they're Hyrule's most southern village, and that would explain why he doesn't come often if he lives that far away. I heard his village only has one horse, too."

"Yeah, that's gotta suck. Staying cooped up in a village all the time. I think I'd go crazy. At least in Castle Town, we can always go to Hyrule Field."

"Yeah..."

After that, we lapsed into silence, just observing the village below. Eventually the kids went inside and went to bed, tired out. Then the lamps were put out and the only light came from the moon and stars, bathing the area with a somewhat unearthly effect.

Finally, Vaati and I both drifted off to sleep, lying on top of the ridge overlooking Kakariko Village.

* * *

On the kid's insistence, the next day was spent just relaxing and hanging out with them. My brothers and I quickly realized that Link was clearly the leader of their group, a bit like the cool big brother to all of them. It reminded me of Dark's role to Vaati and I, actually. Another thing to add to the growing list of similarities between Dark and Link.

Wait a minute... Dark and Link... Dark Link...

Suddenly, it all clicked. The way they seemed almost like carbon copies of each other, their similar mannerisms (both rubbed the back of their hand when nervous, they had the same habit of cocking their heads to the side when they were thinking, etc), the way the golden wolf referred to us as Living Shadows...

Dark and I were quite literally the living personifications of Link's shadow.

…... WHAT THE !$#$ $?!

How is that even possible? But if Dark is exactly like Link, how is it that we're both living shadows if I'm not exactly like Link too? This made no sense whatsoever.

Unless...

A while ago, I was reading a book on the legends of Hyrule's heroes, and I'd noticed something odd. The legend of the Four Sword, which was now lost, spoke of the hero drawing the sword and splitting into four. However, his shadow also appeared, and worked for the evil demon that kidnapped the princess. But what really struck me was how much the pictures of the four heroes and their shadow looked like me. The shadow even had purple hair, blue eyes, and small fangs...

There was also a passage about the Hero of Time, who had literally fought the manifestation of his dark side on his journey. That fit Dark, except for the part where the monster had been evil...

Vaati also looked like the Wind Sorcerer that had formerly been a Picori, or Minish. Right down to the pale skin and eye markings. It was uncanny, really... and they were both Wind Sorcerers...

The spirit said something about atoning for past sins. Since the shadows and the sorcerer were all evil, that would explain what that meant...

So that meant that Dark, Vaati and I were the incarnations of villains who were given a second chance to become good. Okaaayyyy... which meant that I used to be evil... and Dark tried to kill the previous hero... and Vaati turned Castle Town's people to stone... and...

Just then, the golden wolf shimmered into view in front of me. Since I was in the cavern next to the spring, nobody else saw him.

"Hmm... it seems as if you are more clever than I gave you credit for. However, it is not the time for you to know. So for now, you must forget," he said. Then I suddenly felt very, very tired...

A second later I was out cold, and when I woke up, I had no memory of the past several hours.


	5. King Bulblin and Death Mountain

**So, as I was typing out this chapter, I realized that I'd completely forgotten the first King Bulblin fight! Ahh! So that was hastily written in. Sorry this is so late, but I've been busy... yeah, lame excuse. Sorry! **

**Huge thanks to ultima-owner and Nerdwen for reviewing! By the way, check out the Legend of Zelda and Lord of the Rings crossover that Nerdwen and I co-authored! It's pretty random and silly, but I think it's funny. And by the way, I've finally started The Fellowship of the Ring. Maybe later I'll actually start understanding your references, Nerdwen! Yay!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own, 'nuff said.**

* * *

The next day, we'd all gone out for a run with Epona and Link, just riding around Hyrule Field. This was beneficial in several ways. For one, it helped Epona get some proper exercise. Secondly, Link got to train with his sword on horseback, fighting the monsters that infested the field. Thirdly, it was a good way for my brothers and I to practice keeping up with the larger horse.

But when we were over on the ridge to the northeastern end of the field that overlooked the surrounding area, we saw a giant green pig-like creature ride towards the gates of Kakariko atop a giant blue armored boar. It was then followed by a posse of smaller monsters that rode atop smaller brown ones, which weren't armored.

When the leader of the group reached the gate, he stopped and dismounted the giant pig and hunched over, unlocking the gate with a key hidden in its armor. Then it rode through, and locked the gate again when the entire group had entered.

Then the wind shifted so that we were downwind from the monsters, and I recoiled at the putrid stink of dead meat and... sand, of all things. What in the world...?

"They're going towards the village! Come on! The kids are there!" Link yelped, tugging on the chestnut mare's reins and galloping at full tilt towards the gate. Us three, however, opted for the more direct approach: we simply leapt over the wooden gate that blocked the chasm below and flew, cutting across and saving a few seconds of time. Link, however, still managed to leap Epona across the gate before we got there, leaving us to follow, quite literally, in his dust.

As we thundered into the village, I saw where heavy hooves had churned up the earth, giving the impression that a stampede had gone through. Though if you took a look at all those giant boars galloping together in a group, it was a bit like a miniature stampede.

Turning the corner, the five of us pelted into the village just in time to see the green pig-monster raise up an unconscious Colin, by his back collar. Link, upon seeing this, growled wolfishly and spurred Epona on even faster, pursuing the monsters as they ran off to the northern end of the Eldin Province.

Colin was now attached to a long pole with a tattered red ribbon-ish thing flowing behind it. Then the creature turned and faced Link, who had reined in Epona. The monster then unhooked a large white and red striped horn from its belt and blew it, summoning more of the smaller green monsters on brown boars.

Now that they had stopped I could get a better look at them, and recognized the boars as bulbos, giant pigs from the desert. They were highly aggressive and only tamed by bulblins, the green monsters riding them. Both species were from the desert, which led to my wondering what they were doing this far west. After all, the Gerudo Desert was on the far eastern border of Hyrule.

As the herd of bulbos crested the hill, their riders began firing flaming arrows at us, jolting Link into action.

"Yah!" Link cried, snapping the reins. Epona reared up and tossed her head, whinnying loudly. Then she lunged forward with a burst of speed, pursuing the large blue pig and its ugly rider.

The pair were almost instantly surrounded by the smaller brown bulbos with their bulblin riders, and Link had to duck down close to Epona's mane to avoid the flaming arrows that arched over his head. One brushed the top of his hat and it caught fire, leaving a black mark when it was frantically patted out with one gloved hand.

Dark was the first to react, leaping at the nearest bulbo and tore a gash in its flank. The creature screeched in pain and stumbled, landing heavily on its side. The two riders were thrown out, and easily dispatched by Vaati and I.

So while Link went after King Bulblin, the three of us managed to dispatch most of the monster's posse of bulblins and bulbos.

* * *

As Link pursued the injured leader across Eldin Bridge, a pair of archers shot flaming arrows at hastily erected barriers on either end, setting them alight. Those archers were then knocked off their perches on the archways and sent tumbling into the deep gorge below by a gust of wind.

The hero was now facing off against the larger monster, and as they galloped towards each other Epona swerved to the side at the last minute and Link opened a long gash in King Bulblin's side.

This was repeated two more times before the fat pig-monster was knocked from his mount, Lord Bulbo continuing on to smash right through the barrier, flames and all.

_Ouch,_ I thought. _Those are going to leave some nasty burns._

Colin, who had fallen to the ground, was luckily unhurt besides a few cuts and bruises. Epona reared up and neighed in victory, pawing the air with her hooves. Silhouetted against the curtain of twilight that still enveloped the Lanayru Region, the two were an epic and awe-inspiring sight.

* * *

About an hour later we were all safely back at the village, where our wounds were healed by the spirit spring. Or rather, Link's were. Colin was resting, while my brothers and I had settled into the cave next to the spring to quite literally lick our wounds.

Epona, who was free to roam around, nibbled at the dry brush that grew at the edges of the spring. Between nibbles she would tell us stories about Link when he was growing up, which were often embarrassing and hilariously funny. And for a horse, she was a surprisingly good conversationalist.

"Y'know, I'm honestly not surprised that Link's turned out like this. Adventuring across the land, fighting monsters, rescuing people... it just fits his character, I guess. I always knew that he'd never be content with just staying in the village for his entire life. He needs the freedom of travel," she told us once. Then she changed the subject to "The Catfish Incident," as the village called it.

Link, meanwhile, was stocking up on supplies for the trek up to where the Gorons lived, near the mountain's peak. He was shopping at Malo Mart, which was run by this kid from Ordon that didn't look much older than a toddler. However, he acted much older, and had somehow managed to even get supplies from somewhere to use as his wares. What's more, some of his stuff was actually pretty good. Link had even purchases and sturdy metal Hylian Shield that wouldn't catch fire like his previous one had. This, of course, was vital for our upcoming trip to an active volcano.

So after a few days of rest and preparations, we walked to the base of the volcano and began the long hike upwards.

* * *

Death Mountain, the home of the Gorons, active volcano, and currently riddled with randomly erupting geysers. Yay.

The first thing that greeted us upon scaling the ledge that led to the trail was an angry goron who spouted something about humans not being allowed before curling up into a ball and rolling at us. Link, however, was prepared for this after his slightly humiliating defeat previously. This time, he equipped the iron boots and stood his ground, grabbing the goron in what looked like a goat-wrangling technique and throwing it off to the side.

"Wow," I said. "I didn't realize he's that strong."

"Yeah, I didn't either. Maybe all that time goat-herding paid off," Vaati replied, wide-eyed. Dark snorted with amusement, flicking his tail in my nose as we trotted behind the only hylian in the group that was in hylian form.

Several rolling gorons later, we had reached the area where the howling stone was. Only problem with getting through, however, was not only the randomly erupting boiling hot geysers, but the bulblin archers with flaming arrows. Honestly, did their arrows _really_ have to be on fire every time?

Flaming arrows aside, Link was pinned. We were surround by a semicircle of the archers, who were hidden in crevices or on top of ridges. Link's slingshot didn't have the range or the accuracy, and the gale boomerang just wasn't strong enough. If we tried to run for it we'd all get skewered faster than you can say "bulbo chow."

Casting his eyes around, Vaati examined the landscape for anything that could help us. Then he made a sound of excitement and rushed forwards, gingerly plucking a strip of hawk grass growing at the base of a small ledge. Then he turned back to Link and dropped it at his feet, mewing excitedly.

"Hey, great idea! Thanks, Vaati," he replied. Blowing a simple tune, Link raised a gauntleted arm to receive the incoming bird of prey. Whispering a few words to the intelligent bird, Link then raised his arm and pointed it towards the nearest bulblin.

Now that the monsters were taken care of, our only obstacles were the rolling gorons that repeatedly tried to squish us flat into the ground. They were fairly easy to either dodge or grab and throw. As of yet, my brothers and I had yet to use our powers. I was tempted, though. It would have been so much easier to just fly to the top instead of walking the entire way. But that would have been like tipping our hand before the most strategic time, something which could be very bad for us. The fewer people that knew about our abilities, the better.

"What the heck-? What in the name of Farore is there a hot spring where the gorons are, goddesses forbid, actually _nice_ to us doing on the side of Death Mountain?" Vaati asked incredulously. Due to his dislike of the water, he was crouched on top of one of the rock ledges that stuck out there. I was paddling around, rinsing the dust from my fur. It was actually quite relaxing.

After our short break there, about another half hour of climbing, using gorons as springboards (one of the weirdest things I've ever done- but the strangest part is, they curl up with one hit from a sword or shield. Why do that when they can crush us with one blow?) we finally made it to the top.

Of course, the moment we stepped in, we were immediately assaulted by no less than four rolling gorons that surrounded us, with our only escape being the door we had come from. But before we all became little more than squashed goop, the goron elder appeared and essentially told them to stand down.

One wrestling match later, with the help of iron boots of course, Link had one us passage to the Goron Mines, where we had to go rescue another one of their elders. Of course. Why was it that we always had to rescue someone or something, anyway? But Midna said that the power that possessed Darbus must have been another one of those artifacts she wanted, so we really didn't have much choice. Besides, I was going to be seriously ticked off if we'd spent the past few hours hiking up a veritable death trap only to turn back out of cowardice.

* * *

"Hot, hot, hot!" Dark yelped as he stepped paw onto to metal grating, leaping around and finally settling somewhere near the roof of the cavern. Then he yelped as fire slugs dropped down on him, passing right through his ghostly body but giving him a nasty scare all the same.

"Well, now we know what _not_ to do," I commented dryly before hovering off the ground. Dark just glared, and Vaati rose up on a swirling tornado. Link then glanced at us and sighed enviously at our powers of flight, since they allowed us to move directly from one area to the next without any chance of falling into the boiling lava below.

We did, however, have to watch out for torch slugs. Now that was annoying. I mean, really, what was the evolutionary purpose of flaming slugs that dropped from the ceiling on people? None whatsoever!

And don't even get me _started_ on the fire keese. Those things are just... ugh!

* * *

"Hey, do you think Link even knows how to shoot a bow? It doesn't look like he's even held one before..." Vaati asked me. Link was awkwardly trying the get the proper stance with his new weapon, without much success.

"Nah, I don't think so. I can tell his stance is way off, and I've only ever seen the horribly incompetent soldiers practicing!" I replied. Then, suddenly, Link stiffened for a second, and instantly looked as if he'd been handling a bow all his life. His aim was nearly perfect every time, and his stance looked like that of a professional archer.

"What the heck-? How do I know this?" he muttered, half to himself. The rest of us just gazed on in confusion. How _did_ he know all that anyway? And why did the way he use that bow look so... familiar?

An image flashed across my eyes. A younger boy, in a simpler version of Link's tunic, but it was purple, holding a bow with a different make and design with using it with the same style. He was flanking a green-clothed boy who looked like another child version of Link, who had a yellow boomerang. Another Link clone in a blue tunic wielded a hammer to the green boy's right, and behind them stood yet another Link clone with a red tunic. This one held a rod with a red orb on the tip.

_Vio. Green. Blue. Red. Vio's a dead shot with his bow, Green's amazing with the boomerang, Blue is actually pretty good with his hammer, and Red is surprising competent with the Fire Rod. It also doubles as an Ice Rod._ I thought suddenly. Then I blinked in confusion. How in the name of the goddesses did I know this stuff?

"... Hey! Hey! Hyrule to Vaati and Shadow!" Dark barked, getting right up in our faces. I yelped and jerked back, snapping out of my trance-like state.

"Whoah... I just had the weirdest image..." I muttered, shaking my head to dispel it. Vaati suddenly looked shocked, then asked, "Wait! Did you see four kids that looked like younger Link clones too?"

I stared at my brother in shock. How the fudge did he know? "Y-yeah, I did. How did you-?"

"Because I saw the same thing. Vio had a bow, Green had a boomerang, Blue had a hammer, and Red had a Fire/Ice Rod. How did I know that?"

Meanwhile, Link, who hadn't understood our animal language was moving towards the outside door he'd opened. "Come on, guys. It's still daylight out there. Let's go!"

* * *

Lava. A sea of lava. So much lava, everywhere, everywhere...

_I felt angry, so angry. Vio, that traitor! He'd been about to break the Mirror! How dare he! And now his little friends were coming to save the day. Well, when one of the Four Swords was lost, then there'd be nothing to stand in his way!_

Another flashback. I'd been having more and more of those as we progressed through the mines, much to the confusion of Link and my brothers. Most of them revolved around the group of four, but this was the second time the Four Sword had been mentioned. What heck was that, anyway?

* * *

"Ready?" Link asked. We nodded resolutely, pushing all doubts to the backs of our minds. Fairies had been acquired from various pots in case we got seriously injured, but we weren't too worried. After all, what could one old goron elder really do?

Boy, would we come to regret that particular thought in the next five minutes.


	6. Ah, to Walk on Two Legs Again!

**So, there's lots of dialogue in this chapter. Just warning you. Please let me know how I did, either in a review or a PM! Thanks!**

**Give a HUGE thank you to ultima-owner for reviewing both this and my Pokemon/Harry Potter crossover! And no, Death Mountain's not a good place to vacation at all. Unless, of course, you're a goron. Or immune to falling rocks and lava.**

**Disclaimer: See previous chapters.**

* * *

"Oh crud. This ain't good. Why the #$# did that creature have to choose _now_ of all times to break free?!" I yelped, dodging a swipe from one massive flaming hand. Of course the stupid thing had to be on fire, too. Of course. What was next, a giant wave of flames?

Actually, the answer to that question was yes. A wave of fire bursts exploded outwards, and a few of them passed so close I could feel my fur ripple as they rushed past.

"Keep it still so I can hit it!" Link yelled, an arrow nocked in his bow and ready to fire. When I looked at him I couldn't help but see the image of a young boy in a purple tunic flash across my vision, along with the name Vio.

These visions had been happening rather frequently for some reason, especially whenever I saw Link with his bow or any floating platform on the lava. Actually, just about everything in these stupid mines triggered some sort of flashback. And I could never figure out why, even though I'd never seen the people or the images that came to me before in my life. For example, one moment a floating rock gave me the image of two boys fighting on a platform, green against violet. Then Link holding his bow triggered that purple tunic boy again. Actually, now that I think about it, that boy with the yellow bow and purple tunic popped up a lot. I knew the boys' names, and his was Vio, but I couldn't figure out exactly who he was. He seemed important, though.

"Shadow! Pay attention!" Dark yelped, flying past my nose. I blinked and dodged a swipe, mentally scolding myself. Time to get back to the battle on hand.

"RRRROAAARHHGGG!" Fyrus roared in pain as an arrow pierced the pinkish jewel on his forehead with pinpoint accuracy, shaking his head from side to side and thrashing around. Link hastily put away his bow and ran towards the monster's back, where heavy chains trailed from its ankles. I saw Midna pop out of Link's shadow and say something, then hand over the iron boots.

Once we realized what Link was doing, the three of us flew down and grabbed the other chain in our jaws, pulling as far back as we could. At the moment I was cursing my wolf form for not having opposable thumbs and hoped that my teeth wouldn't get pulled out by the strain.

The giant creature toppled to the floor, and Link quickly unsheathed his sword. Then he began hacking at the jewel, which was probably the monster's weak point- much Diababa's eye.

Soon Fyrus got back up and the cycle was repeated two more times. Shoot the jewel, pull the chain, and then hit the jewel some more. It was rather simple, actually. I think Diababa was more difficult, simply because of the acid spraying all over the place. At least the flames were easily put out with Vaati's windstorms.

After the third time of hacking at the jewel, Fyrus roared and stood frozen, blackening and shrinking down until he was once again a normal goron. The Fused Shadow that popped out was taken by Midna, and I wondered what she wanted with those things. We already had two out of three, and they must have been powerful if she wanted them this badly.

A while later we were back at Kakariko, being treated for burns and recuperating from various wounds. Some of the marks would leave scars, but personally I thought that they looked kind of cool. Vaati thought they looked ugly, but that was only because his coat wasn't perfect and unmarked anymore. That guy was probably the vainest street kid I'd ever or ever would meet.

Link was talking to Renado, who was telling him about the mysterious black barrier that enclosed the entire Lanayru region. From his description of the strange golden markings it was probably another wall of twilight, hopefully the last one in the kingdom. Well, at least now we knew where we'd be headed next. And hopefully my brothers and I could finally get our hylian forms back. Ah, to once again have the use of opposable thumbs...

* * *

Once Link had purchased healing potions, bombs, arrows, and something called a hawkeye, we were ready to enter the twilight for the third and hopefully last time. Once we stood at the great black wall before us, Midna popped out and started talking.

"Ah, we're finally here. There's only one Fused Shadow left...So this is the last of the twilight you'll see, I guess. Whether or not you accomplish your final task and survive is up to you... Eee hee! So what will you do? Want me to let you into the twilight?"

Link answered in an affirmative.

"All right then, I guess I'll have to help you! But what a shame that this is the last of the twilight... I had become so fond of seeing it covering this world... Or... is it really the last you'll see? Eee hee! So, shall we get going?"

Then she floated in and grabbed us all with a giant glowing hand, pulling us back into the twilight.

This time, Link's transformation didn't look painful. Instead, he simply fell on all fours and just changed. He looked a bit confused for a second, then coughed as Midna plopped onto his back and kicked her heels into his side. He turned and growled at her for a minute, then huffed as he heard the three of us laughing at him.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing. She's got you completely whipped, ya know that?"

"Wha- she does not!"

"Hey! Do you want to save that girl or not! Come on, let's get going!" Midna yelled, cutting into the argument. Link just flicked his ears and turned forwards, trotting down the path. I snickered and followed.

"Oh yeah, she's got him totally whipped," Vaati said.

A minute later Link was sniffing at a small pouch that lay on the ground, ears thrust forward and eyes dark and intense.

"You smell the girl, don't you? I can tell by the look on your face. Well, good. It's another clue, then. But this scent could be quite old... I wonder if she is still all right? Eee hee!" Midna said rather nastily. Link growled and put his nose to the ground, breaking into a fast sprint. How he managed to see where he was going with his nose to the ground, though, I have no idea. The three of us really had no choice but to follow.

We crossed the field in front of Castle Town and came to the east gate, where Link didn't even slow down as he ran across the wooden drawbridge. I couldn't help but let out a happy bark and coming back home, even if it was covered in twilight. Once I turned on my senses, I could see that the residents weren't even affected by the twilight and were rushing around as usual. Of course. Ah, it's wonderful to be back.

"Hey, Shadow, do ya think Telma's missed us?" Vaati asked as he walked through a spirit. I shrugged and poked a paw through a kid's stomach.

"Eh, I dunno. It'll depend on how busy she's been and whether the Resistance's had any meetings. But we have been gone for a few weeks now, so she might be wondering why we haven't shown up for food yet."

"Or maybe she thinks we finally got offed by disease or something. Wasn't there some sort of sickness going around at the time we left?" Dark asked. Vaati nodded.

"Oh yeah, I remember that. Bunch of people died, right? I wonder why we never caught it, though."

"Maybe the same reason we didn't turn into spirits like everyone else. Which, by the way, we still don't know the answer to."

By this time, we'd followed Link all over town while he'd tracked the scent and were now standing at the door to Telma's Bar.

"We need to go inside. Do you guys know what place this is?" Link asked us, the first time we'd been addressed since entering the town.

"Yeah, this is Telma's Bar. She lets us have free food every once in a while. She's pretty nice, actually. I think she's the only shopkeeper we don't steal from," Dark replied. Link glanced wide-eyed at us before replying, "Steal from? But stealing is bad! You guys... steal?"

"Yeah, of course we steal. You forgot that we're street kids, didn't 'ya?"

"Ummm... well..."

"Listen, Link. You may not know it, but you're incredibly lucky. You grew up with a roof over your head and people that cared for you. You could pretty much count on having at least one good meal every day and a fire to warm up by. But for us, we didn't have that. For us, we'd be lucky to get a loaf of bread to share between us for breakfast. So just don't start looking down on us because we steal, 'kay?" Vaati muttered. Link sighed and looked slightly disapproving, but dropped the subject.

"Well, on a happier note, let's see if Telma missed us!" I announced, nosing open the door and stepping in.

The bar seemed almost exactly the same as when we'd left it, but with a group of soldiers clustered in the back area where the Resistance usually met and Telma standing next to a girl that I presumed was Link's friend who was sitting in front of an unconscious zora boy.

Whoa, that was a run-on sentence.

Anyway, Link immediately started wagging his tail and started towards the girl before they began to talk.

"This boy... Can you save him?!" the girl asked.

"All right, little lady, try to settle down, OK?! I just now sent for the  
doctor! But this is strange... A child of the Zoras... I wonder if this is at all related to the incident the soldiers were talking about in back..." she replied.

Midna spoke up then, grinning widely. "Aw, what an emotional reunion! Yes, a girl and her wolf! Eee hee! Sorry, but you know how it goes! These folks can't see you, either... Eee hee hee!"

The girl sadly turned back to the zora boy. "This boy I still so young, so innocent... To see him suffering like this..."

"He'll be all right, little lady. Someone's already gone for the doctor. I'll tell you, though, from what those soldiers in back were talking about...to everything else... There sure has been a rash of trouble lately..." Telma replied consolingly. I almost didn't catch the muttered remark under her breath as we turned our attention to the soldiers, but what she said warmed my heart. It was nice to know that somebody cared.

"Dark, Vaati, Shadow... Goddesses, I hope you three are alright, wherever you are. They never found your bodies, so I hope it wasn't the sickness. Take care of yourselves, boys."

* * *

"Ah crud, tar! The bridge is on fire!" I howled, glancing from side to side. Link growled and saw a box near the railing. Pushing it so that it was flush against the side, he jumped on top and peered over the edge of the bridge.

"Link, are you serious?! You're the only one who can't fly!" I barked.

"Yes, but how else do you expect to get out of here? Besides, I can see water below. It'll soften the landing."

"Not from this high up!"

"No, it's okay. I can slow his fall," Vaati mewed. Dark hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"We don't have a choice," he growled. Then he turned ghostly and sank through the floor. I flattened my ears but leap upwards, followed by Vaati on his tornado. Link jumped off the edge, falling hundreds of feet towards the ground. We dove after him, Vaati creating a small tornado underneath to slow his descent.

The green wolf hit the water with a huge splash, but seemed unharmed when his head popped up and he swam to shore. We landed on the bank just as he clambered out and shook himself off, spraying water everywhere.

"Whoa, what the heck happened to all the water? The lake used to be a lot fuller."

* * *

"Oh boy, more bug hunting. Hopefully this is the last time." Vaati shuddered at the thought. He absolutely _hated_ those stupid electrified bugs.

* * *

"Oh my freaking gosh, those zoras are frozen. Are they even alive?"

* * *

"No offense, but even if that worked, what in the name of Farore possessed us to think that sending a giant fiery rock into a frozen pool of zoras and hoping that by some miracle none of them are crushed or injured was a good idea?"

"Uhhhh... I dunno..."

* * *

"Holy $% $##$ that's a huge bug!"

"Goddesses, I'm going have nightmares about this, I just know it."

"Ewww, it's spraying gross liquid from its leg stumps!"

"Ugh, it tastes awful!"

* * *

"_Finally_. Oh, that was terrible. I think I'm scarred for life."

"From what, that vision or the giant bug?"

"Both. And the sight of Dark in Link's clothes dyed black with black skin and clones of himself that are apparently completely and utterly evil."

"Shadow, Vaati, do me a favor. If for some reason I _ever_ become like that, you have my full permission to either run away screaming or beat some sense into me. I won't hold it against you."

"Will do."

* * *

"Y'know, even though there are a lot of advantages to being a wolf, I think I like being hylian better. Ah, to walk on two legs again!" I said, stretching my arms above my head and reveling in the feeling of actually being able to wiggle my fingers and toes again.

"Ya got that right. Oh, it'll be so much easier to cast spells with actual hands instead of paws now!" Vaati sighed happily, leaning against to rail of the wooden bridge. Dark laughed and ruffled my hair.

"Hehe, now I can do this again! And of course, I'm still taller than you, no matter which form. Heh, I can fight with a sword instead of claws!" he said happily. Link chuckled.

"You know, I almost forgot what you guys look like, since I'm so used to seeing you in your animal forms. Though I do think that Vaati looked less girly as a panther," he teased.

"Wha- I do not look like a girl!"

"Yes you do!"

"No I don't!"

"Yes you- wait a minute, is that my wallet?"

I grinned as I bounced Link's wallet up and down in my hand. "Uh huh. Looks like those weeks of being a wolf haven't dulled my pickpocketing skills. Then again, you're not a particularly difficult victim. You didn't even have the sense to keep it somewhere hidden, and not in plain sight like that!"

"Hey, give that back!"

And thus, a game of keep-the-wallet-away-from-Link was started, and ended when I simply hovered just above Link's reach and dangled it teasingly as he jumped for it.

* * *

"Sooo... how're we gonna get back up?"

"Well, there's always Fyer's Cannon. It's a bit scary for first-time users, but it gets the job done."

"No. No way am I getting into a cannon and shooting myself out."

"Or we could carry you, but it might be slightly awkward since it's hardly common to see two flying people supporting a guy between them in the air. And there's no guarantee that we won't drop you. You're not exactly light, y'know."

"I'll take my chances with the cannon."


	7. Flaming Carriage of DOOM!

**A HUGE thank you to ultima-owner for reviewing! You keep me motivated with your reviews for every chapter! For a while I was considering stopping this fic, since it wasn't getting a lot of attention, but you kept me going! **

**Please let me know how I'm doing, either through a PM or a review!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own, etc etc.**

* * *

"Oh my freaking gosh that was terrifying!"

Link, who was leaning heavily against the railing of Falbi's cannon flight landing platform, breathed deeply in and out while shaking uncontrollably. "Okay. I am never, _ever_ doing that again," he said.

Dark snorted and smirked mischievously. "You know, you won't really have a choice if you want to come back here. Oh, and do you know how you get down? You'll just love it."

Link glared at him and straightened up, walking into the house. "Which, of course, means that I'll hate it. Are you guys always this sarcastic?"

"Yeah, pretty much. You'll find that most alley kids are. It's either that or they're snarky and short-tempered," replied Vaati. I snickered, remembering one particularly mean kid that mouthed off a soldier once. Then he snuck into the barracks on a dare and never came back out.

As Link descended the ladder, he looked around at the numerous cuccos that resided in the large room.

"What are-"

"You'll find out later."

The ride back to the town was done in silence, my brothers and I flying above while Link rode Epona. For the most part we ignored the monsters that traversed the fields, occasionally trampling one that got underfoot or slashing at the flying kargaroks that dived bombed us.

Soon we had arrived at the western gate, crossing the drawbridge at a gallop just as the torches flared to life. Dismounting, the green-clad hylian lead Epona to a public stable and tied her to a hitching post.

"So, umm... do you three know the way to that place where Ilia was? Telma's Bar, right? Because, uh, I'm kind of lost. This place is wayyy bigger than Ordon, so..." Link looked uncertain and extremely uncomfortable. Dark laughed and shook his head, clapping the teen that could have passed for his double on the back.

"Goddesses, you really are a country boy, aren't you? Come on, we know the way. But if I were you, I'd hide your wallet first. This town is full of thieves and pickpockets. Since you're with us, you should be pretty safe. Hide it just in case," he said. Link nodded and took the pouch from his belt, stowing the bag in one of his magically enhanced pouches.

As Dark led the way towards Telma's Bar, he did end up taking several shortcuts through alleyways to get there faster. As we passed through I saw numerous homeless people, and each one stared at us curiously before shrinking back into the shadows as we passed. It seemed as if our absence had been noted.

"Here we go. Telma's Bar, where the residents and visitors of Castle Town get drunk, make complete and utter fools of themselves,, and then stagger out with one goddess-sized headache once they've come too. At least, that's what always seems to happen whenever we're here," Dark announced. Vaati snorted, no doubt remembering the time we'd had to dump buckets of water on one man who refused to wake up after I'd punched him. In my defense, he'd thought I was his girlfriend and tried to kiss me. In his defense, the number of drinks he'd had reached at least fifteen before I stopped counting. Now _that_ was one crazy night...

"Eh, wait, what?" Link asked, looking worried. Vaati grinned widely and pulled open the door, pushing him in before he could protest.

When we went in, the first thing that happened was that we saw Doctor Borville, a mean old curmudgeon who only responded to money, was walking towards the door.

"That is a Zora child! That is beyond my expertise! Hmmmph!" he said sourly before pushing his way past us and exiting the bar. Link's eyes widened slightly at the doctor's large glasses, which magnified his eyes to make us ugly face look even uglier.

"Doctor, wait! If something isn't done, this child will..."

A girl, probably about Link's age or a bit younger, appealed to the doctor. but unfortunately, he was already gone. It was Ilia, that girl we'd seen before. She glanced once at Link, no recognition whatsoever in her eyes, before sighing sadly and going back to sit beside the zora boy.

Telma frowned and huffed angrily. "Well, this isn't good. A human doctor won't do, huh... That old coot reminded me, though... I've heard of a shaman in Kakariko Village, in the Eldin lands, who's tended Gorons and Zoras."

Ilia shot up eagerly, excitement written across her face. "Is that true? Perhaps if we take him there..." she said quickly.

Then a voice echoed from the back of the room, authoritative and strong. "Inadvisable! Too dangerous! But we can't turn a blind eye to a pretty girl in need, either. Yes, we'd better escort you! Am I right, boys?!" shouted a soldier, standing in front of a line of others that were standing in front of the bar. At his words they all started yelling eagerly and shaking their pikes in the air, creating a loud clamor.

I raised an eyebrow at this behavior. Since when had the soldiers of Hyrule actually grown a backbone? Maybe that time spent as spirits had been good for them, after all.

Telma smiled as she looked at them and turned back to Ilia, who looked overjoyed. "Well, isn't that nice. To reach Kakariko, we've got to cross two plains that are each infested by dangerous beasts. But we'll be safe now!" she told the girl happily. But as she talked, I could see the soldiers dying down and starting to tremble in fear, until the by the time Telma was done speaking, the last of them had just fled out the door.

"Cowards! Don't EVER show your faces here again!" she called after their retreating backs upon turning around and seeing that they were all gone. Then she saw Link, my brothers and I having hung back in the shadows around the doorway. Clearly she hadn't seen us yet.

"Oh my! Looks like we've got one young swordsman left! And not only that, but it looks like this brave young man will escort us, so get ready to go, honey. Pronto!"

Then she turned to Link and smiled at him, looking a bit sad. "You know that girl, don't you? It's a real shame... She can't even remember her own name right now. Bless her heart... She found this poor boy collapsed in the road, so she did all she could to save him. More courage in that girl than in all the soldiers of Hyrule, for sure! You lend your strength to her, you hear me?" she told him sharply. Then she eyed him critically up and down, then sighed sadly. "You know, honey, you look a lot like somebody else I know. For a minute I thought it was him, standing in the doorway, but... well, would you happen to be related by any chance? His name's Dark, and he looks like you, but with black hair and red eyes. You know him?" she asked.

Link glanced at Ilia and nodded, turned towards us. "Come on, guys," he said. "Telma's asking about you."

Dark poked his head out from where he'd been examining his fingernails behind the door and grinned, waving at the barkeeper. I peered around his shoulder while Vaati walked out from behind Link, and we all waved at the older lady.

She stood there, gaping in shock before rushing forwards and pulling us all into a tight embrace. All the air whooshed out at once as I was squeezed so hard I thought my ribs might crack.

"Telma. Can't... breathe..." Vaati wheezed. Telma released us and stepped back, beaming in a motherly fashion.

"Oh, where have you all _been_ I've been worried sick and so have Auru and Ashei and Shad and we all thought you might have been taken by that disease going around and-"

"Telma, we're fine! We just... got into a bit of trouble and had to leave town for a bit, but we're back. We're actually traveling with Link here for the moment, so we'll be in and out. But it's good to be back. How's the Group been?" Dark laughed, cutting the lady off. Link and Ilia just looked on in confusion.

"Oh, we've been doing well. Ashei's been investigating something up in the Snowpeak Mountains, Shad is researching the Sky People like always, and Auru's been observing the Gerudo Desert from that watchtower of his. Oh, and we inducted that new member, too! You'll probably meet him soon enough," Telma replied happily. "Now I assume you'll all be escorting us?"

Four nods of assent were made.

"Well then, let's get going! This poor boy doesn't have forever. I have a cart out back. Let's go!"

* * *

"So you say the bridge to the west has been destroyed, huh? Then our only option is to cross the bridge to the east. You see what that means? You'll have to deal with that thing!" Telma pointed to King Bulblin, who was patrolling back and forth across the bridge. I noted grimly that half of one of his horns was missing, and both bulbo and rider looked murderous.

"Th-Thank you so much for this. Um, if you don't mind me asking, what's your  
name? ...Link?! Dark, Shadow, Vaati?! I will never in all my life forget your kindness, Link, Dark, Shadow, and Vaati," Ilia said softly. Telma looked over at her and smiled slightly.

"Little lady, I think you'd best save your thanks until we're safe in Kakariko... These swordsmen of ours have great eyes, honey. They're proud and wild...like a  
feral beast. We need beasts right now, to keep the true ones at bay. If we make it to Kakariko safely, we'll just thank him then, OK? You ready to roll, Link, Dark, Shadow, Vaati? You've got to protect these young ones on the way to Kakariko! OK, it's your turn, honey! We're counting on you!"

Link nodded, then spurred on Epona to meet King Bulblin on the bridge. My brothers and I flew alongside, and I readied my sword as we approached.

The monster saw us and flashed a wicked grin, raising his arms to show two thick wooden shields, one on each hand. With those things protecting him, Link wouldn't be able to use the same technique as last time. He'd have to attack from either the front or from behind.

"Yah!"

The two riders charged each other, and just as they were about to collide, Link drew his bow and shot an arrow directly at the monster's chest. It made a direct hit, and the two flailed around. Link and Epona galloped to the edge of the bridge and turned around, preparing to go again. While King Bulblin was off balance, Dark swooped in and came up through the ground directly in front of Lord Bulbo, spooking the giant boar and sending it into a frenzy. Its rider lost all control of its mount and they slammed into the railings, making it an easy target for Link's bow. Then King Bulblin was knocked off the giant blue pig and sent careening into the abyss below.

* * *

"Vaati! The carriage is on fire! Put it out!" I called, sending a bomb into the face of a bulblin rider. It promptly exploded, blowing the monster to bits. Vaati nodded and sent a whirlwind, blowing out the flaming carriage.

I cursed and swore heavily as a kargarok dropped a bomb under the hooves of the carriage's horse, sending the animal into yet another round around the field, _again._ As Telma struggled to get the horse back under control, I went back to work slashing the monsters from their mounts. Great Goddesses, how many freaking bulblins WERE there?!

* * *

As Link unlocked the gate to Kakariko and we galloped in, I think everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. Now we were safe, and the zora boy could finally get treatment. Falling to the top of the cart, I lay down and stared up at the stars as Telma brought us to a halt within the village.

Though I'd really only meant to rest my eyes, the canvas was actually quite comfortable, and sleep was tugging at my eyes. We'd all had a long night, and as I heard Vaati settle down on the canvas beside me, I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_CRASH!_

I was suddenly and rudely brought back to the waking world when my makeshift canvas bedding gave out, depositing the three of us in a heap on the floor of the carriage.

Wait. Three of us?

I looked to my left and saw Dark lying in what was definitely a very uncomfortable position, with one arm pinned under my back and his face to the floor. Judging by the height of the sun and the way all three of us were sprawled in one big heap, I guessed that Dark had joined Vaati and I sometime during the night and we'd all gone to sleep on top of the cart. From there, I deduced that the cloth ceiling could not support our weight and gave out come morning.

"Ugh, ow... who's lying on my leg?"

"Dark, get off my chest."

"Shadow, I can't feel my hand. Get off!"

After some cursing and struggling, we all did manage to get untangled and sort of fix the roof. Or rather, since a hole had been torn through it, we just kind of threw a cloth over the hole and figured we'd fix it later.

"Oh! You're awake! Are you alright?"

I looked around and saw Colin, who was gazing up at us with worry in his eyes.

"Yeah, we're fine," Vaati replied. I yawned and stretched, listening to my joints pop satisfyingly.

Dark's stomach suddenly grumbled loudly, and he turned a shade of light red.

"Hey, is there any food? Because I'm starving," he told the boy, looking over at the only occupied house. Colin smiled and nodded, replying, "Yeah, come on! I'll show you!"

After we'd eaten, Link explained exactly what he'd been up too while we were asleep. A few raised eyebrows were made at the bit about the dead zora queen's ghost, but honestly, after living with Dark, I wasn't too surprised.

"So, let me get this straight," I said. "First, after the zora boy got taken care of, you talked with Telma about the Resistance. Then you saw the ghost of Rutela, whom we also saw up in Zora's Domain, and she led you to a secret tunnel in the graveyard where you got a new set of clothes that allow you to breathe underwater and swim like a zora. Then she pretty much told you to tell her son, the zora boy who's actually the zora prince, that she's dead and that she loves him."

Link thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. Oh, and Telma said that you guys were also in the Resistance. So what do you guys do?" he asked.

"Well, we're their eyes and ears. We are their primary source of information. After all, as street kids, we can go pretty much anywhere undetected. Add in our unique skill set, and we're the perfect spies," Dark replied. Then something occurred to me.

"Wait, if we all have to go and find this underwater temple for the last fused shadow, how're we," here Dark gestured to himself, Vaati, and I, "going to get there? There's only one set of Zora Armor, and I can't hold my breath for that long."

Link looked surprised for a moment. "Oh... right... good question... um..."

Vaati creased his brow for a second and looked at the floor, thinking hard. Then he looked up and opened his mouth to speak.

"Well, the zora armor was made by zoras, right? So what if you just ask them for more sets, or ask if they have methods for allowing non-zoras to breathe underwater? I mean, they've probably developed _something_ along those lines considering how many hylian visitors they get."

Link considered this for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, actually, that's a good idea. And worst case scenario, you three just sit this one out."

Dark snorted softly. "Yeah, right. As if. You're practically one of us now, and there's no way you leave us behind. One way or another, we'll get down there somehow. Besides, the zoras owe us for saving them. Much longer in that ice and they would've suffocated," he said.

"Well, that's settled, then. But how 'bout we stay here a few days? Y'know, just to make sure that the kid's gonna be okay," Vaati suggested. This was met with much enthusiasm.

* * *

A few days later, the zoras had agreed to make three extra sets of armor for us. However, it would take a couple weeks, so until then we had time to kill. This was spent in Castle Town, showing Link the sights and catching up on news. This was actually kind of fun, since apparently most of the town's underworld thought we were dead. The fact that Dark could turn ghostly didn't help.

Then, one day, we heard a _very _interesting piece of gossip going around town regarding a couple newbies who'd apparently challenged us for the title of "Best Thieves in Town"...


	8. Competition

**So, um... yeah this is WAAAYY overdue... um... sorry? Hehe... *looks around nervously* is anyone still our there? Anyone? No? Dang it... ****Anyway, the reason that this is so late was that, well, I got busy. With real life. So that's why I didn't update in so long. Plus, I didn't have internet connection, my computer kept glitching out and freezing, and a whole host of other problems. So all I can say for now is Sorry!**

**HUGE THANKS to ultima-owner, doomsbane, Nerdwen (x2!) and Guest for reviewing!**

* * *

The kids' names were Runde and Brando, and they called themselves the Thief Lords. Both were about Dark's age, and they were also brothers. That was all we needed to know. Just by hearing their personalities described to us we could tell that they may have had some talent, but most of their "fabulous heists" were either flukes or due to the complete and utter unreliability of the Hyrulian Guard. Honestly, the Resistance would've done a better job than those guards, and they consisted of a barkeeper, girl soldier, aged warrior, unknown swordsman, scholar, and my brothers and I.

Just goes to show what we thought of those two.

Anyway, this challenge did piqué our interest, and since we had time to kill, we figured why not. So we arranged a meeting with the two. Or rather, we dropped in unannounced and observed their reactions. Okay, so maybe we freaked them out a little. By accident. Or maybe it was accidentally on purpose.

So sue us, we were bored. Though the sight of their faces when Dark snuck up on them from the shadows, making his eyes flash bright red... it was hilarious. I swear I nearly cracked a rib from laughing so hard. I don't think I've ever heard such girly screams come from the throats of two guys.

Actually, scratch that. I've heard them from the Hyrulian Guards, though at the time they were slightly distorted by the metal helmets.

"What the #$# ! What the #$# do you # $ think you're doin', scaring the #$% out of us like that?!" screeched one of them (I think it was Runde).

Vaati raised an eyebrow while I tried to stop snickering. "Whoa," he said, sounding slightly impressed. "You guys cuss worse than sailors. Where'd ya learn all those?"

The pair fumed for another minute, then calmed down enough to look at us closely. "Say, aren't those guys who disappeared not long ago? The Terrible Three, or somethin' like that?"

Dark nodded, his demeanor suddenly changing from lighthearted and joking to dark and serious. His expression did a complete 180, going from contorted in laughter to looking sinister and intimidating. Vaati and I had nicknamed it his Evil Demon Spirit of Darkness face. It never failed to scare the heck out of its victims. A few over the years had even wet their pants. I think it was the eyes that did it, though it could also be the way he always stays half in the shadows and goes slightly translucent.

"Yes, we did disappear for a while. But now we're back, and according to our sources," here Dark leaned forward and frowned menacingly, "a couple of certain someones have believed that they're brave enough to challenge us. Now, I don't know what you boys can do to make you believe that you're good enough to go up against _us_, but remember- WE are the top dogs in the thievery business around here, eh?"

The brothers now looked thoroughly terrified, but Brando seemed to gain new courage at this. A flash of anger passed through his eyes, and he straightened up from his slightly hunched over position. "Not anymore, ya aren't," he sneered. "Yer just washed-up old pickpockets now. _We're_ the real deal 'round these parts. Go back to whatever hole ya've been hidin' in now, before we run ya out of town!"

I scoffed at this. Clearly the guy was bluffing; I could see it in his body language. Besides, our adventuring with Link had only served to make us stronger. There was no way these two idiots could defeat us. "Big words from a little guy, Brando. But can 'ya live up 'em? Come on, I dare ya. Or are ya too scared?"

Now Runde bristled at the insult and took a threatening step forward, getting right up in my face. "Listen here, ya little punk," he snarled. "We're only warning you once. Get out, or get yer #$# kicked."

I bared my teeth in a feral grin, showing off pointed canines. The older teen's eyes widened and his stumbled back, gasping in surprise. "Demons! The rumors are true!"

Vaati snickered. "Not quite, little man. More like... well, if anyone's the demon, it'd be Dark over here. Shadow's more of an imp, I'd say. To playful to be a demon. After, which one is more likely to play with their food before they eat it?"

Dark laughed and shook his head in exasperation. "Boys, however much fun it is to mess with Dumb and Dumber over here, we didn't come to crack jokes," he told us sternly. Then he turned to the challengers and addressed them directly. "We've got better things to do than chat with you two, so I'll say it to ya straight. You challenged us, and we accept that challenge. You two set the rules, just tell us when and where. In fact, we'll even give you a fighting chance and give you a few days to prepare, 'k? Get back to us when you've decided. If we're not present at the moment, leave a message with Telma at the bar. Just watch out for Ashei, though. She ain't got no tolerance for lowlife and packs a mean blade at her hip to back it up."

By this point, the two looked angrier than ever, but came to a screeching halt in confusion at Dark's last few sentences. But before they could ask any questions, the three of us stepped back into the shadows and slipped away, leaving the brothers dumbfounded.

It wasn't until we got back to the Bar that I finally collapsed in laughter. "D-did you see their _faces?!_ When Dark appeared behind them they nearly wet their pants!"

"Yeah, and when you showed off your fangs like that-! Oh, that's just priceless. I wish I'd had one of those pictobox things so I could remember that expression forever," Vaati laughed.

Dark chuckled and ruffled my hair, then leaned over and gave Vaati and noogie. "Well, the intimidation part worked, at any rate. Now all we have to do is sit and wait. Not too hard."

"But it's boring!" I protested. Dark just raised an eyebrow.

"Be patient," he said. "After all, it's a virtue. And one day, being patient may save your life."

* * *

A messenger, some scrawny kid who couldn't have been older than ten, showed up a few days later with a message. He said he was to tell us that we were to meet the pair in the Beggar's Circle tonight at midnight, where most of us homeless people gathered. It was a bit like the underworld's version of the town's plaza, basically. And since this challenge was now very public, since they'd pretty much announced it to the world, there was sure to be a lot of people. Perfect. Now we'd get to crush them and save our reputations with plenty of witnesses.

Then something happened that we certainly didn't expect- Link decided that he wanted to tag along as well, and so did the the rest of the Resistance.

Well, that certainly complicated things. Castle Town's underworld had only grown with the recent influx of monsters, and now it was meaner than ever. And none of them would be kind to strangers. Great, now we'd have to protect them as well as beat the stuffing out of whatever test those two wannabes challenge us with. Yay.

But enough complaining. Now we were gonna have to tell everyone else how to act around the piranhas that were Castle Town's underworld.

* * *

"Shad! Don't look so nervous. As long as we put up an intimidating front, they'll leave us alone. Our reputation should take care of most of them, but it never hurts to be careful," Vaati hissed out of the corner of his mouth. The only member of the Resistance who was not in attendance was the new guy, who was apparently down south on business. I figured we'd meet him later. The rest of us were moving in a large pack, with Shad and Telma in the middle as they were the ones with the least battle experience. Auru, Ashei, Link, Dark, Vaati, and I were arranged in a rough circle around them. The young scholar now looked decidedly nervous, trembling with every step and constantly adjusting his glasses.

The trip to the Beggar's Circle was fairly uneventful, except for one foolish kid who tried to pick my pocket. I twisted his arm away without even looking; he was that bad. When we got to the meeting place, standing right smack in the middle were the two brothers. Dark, Vaati and I walked to the front and stood before them.

"Well? What's it gonna be? A duel to the death, or something less overly dramatic?" Dark drawled lazily. Runde just smirked and cast a critical eye over our party.

"So, your little friends decided to tag along, eh? Who are they, your bodyguards? What, were you too scared to face us alone?" he taunted, masking his slight nervousness at the sight of Ashei with her armor and dangerous looking weapons.

"Actually, they're just some friends who wanted to see the show. I have complete and utter confidence that we'll be able to whip your backsides into next week, no help needed. So let's just get on with it already, I have better things to do that stand around in front of you two worthless pickpockets," Vaati sneered, pretending to examine his nails nonchalantly. I'll admit, Vaati did pull off the pompous I'm-So-Much-Better-Than-You-It's-Not-Even-Funny act quite well.

"Why you-! Well, ya won't be acting all high and mighty when we're through with ya tonight," Bumbo- sorry, _Brando, _-snarled. "We've got a nice little set up here, a race of sorts. And the best part is, it'll be _very_ obvious who's the better thief this time. After all," here his eyes glinted maliciously. "if you lose... you get thrown in the dungeon for trespassing."

No. He was _not_ suggesting what I thought he was suggesting... no way... they wouldn't really be _that_ stupid...

"I challenge you to a race! Whoever can steal the helmet of the captain of the hyrulian guards first wins! And we begin... now!"

With that, the pair turned and vanished into the crowd, no doubt heading straight for the barracks. Well, at least he hadn't suggested that we break into the castle like I'd thought he was going going to for a second, but breaking into the barracks was almost as bad. After all, they were located right next to the castle.

"Shadow! Vaati! We need to get there before they do, or our reputations are ruined. Come on, let's go. Ashei, Link, Auru, take care of Shad and Telma. You guys can find your way back to the bar on your own, right?" Dark barked out. Link nodded, and Ashei put a hand on her sword. Then Dark turned and nodded to us, heading for a nearby alley.

Once we were hidden from view in the shadows, Dark told us the plan. "Since it's so crowded today, going as we are now will take too long. Therefore, we split up. I'll phase through the ground in ghost form, and Shadow and travel through the Shadows. Vaati, see if you can disguise yourself and just get there as fast as possible. Go!" he told us. Then he sank into the ground, and Vaati pulled up his hood and began climbing the wall, no doubt planning on using the rooftops. I melded with the nearby shadows, then flitted through the shadow dimension until I reached the barracks.

From our previous training sessions with one of the soldiers here, we knew that the captain's quarters were the one closest to the castle, in case he needed to get there quickly. Dark was already waiting outside for me, and a second later Vaati leapt down from the rooftops with catlike grace. Inwardly I grinned. The pale boy hadn't been quite that graceful or agile before our transformation, so this meant that perhaps some of our beast traits were retaining in our natural forms. Good. We would take every advantage we could get.

"Come on. No doubt those two have already scouted the place out, but I haven't seen hide nor hair of them since I got here a minute ago. Which means that we either got here first or they're already in," Dark whispered. Luckily most of them were asleep, with only a couple patrols on night watch.

Sneaking in was so easy it was pathetic. All we really had to do was get past a single patrol, which wasn't that difficult as the soldiers were all talking and chatting to each other as they walked. Once we were inside it was pretty much child's play to get to the captain's quarters. Heck, even a five year old could have done it. They didn't even have any guards inside! Guess they figured they didn't need to, seeing how it was the soldiers' barracks.

The brothers were already inside when we entered, rifling through the captain's things while the man himself snored away on a nearby bed. I resisted the urge to facepalm at the sight. They weren't even _trying_ to be discreet! Though I'll admit, the room probably couldn't get any messier anyway.

"Come on, come on… where is that #$# helmet!?" Runde hissed angrily. Brando frowned and jerked his head towards the still sleeping captain, making a shushing noise. They still hadn't noticed us.

"Dark! I see it," murmured Vaati quietly. Dark followed his gaze and saw the helmet sitting on the desk, hidden by a large pile of various random objects that included, but was not limited to; other pieces of armor, both empty and not so empty liquor bottles, dirty laundry, and various sheets of paper. In fact, it was actually a wonder that Vaati had been able to see it at all. Though he has always had good eyesight.

"Good. Shadow, go grab it. You'll get the easiest, when you've got it, travel through the shadows back to the bar. We'll follow behind," Dark told me. I nodded, then slowly sidled into the room.

Getting to the helmet itself was easy, but the problem would lie in removing it without causing any noise. Since it was also lying under so many pieces of loud jangly metal armor, I figured that the easiest way would be to simply grab it and then melt into a shadow.

However, just as I was about to remove it, I was struck with a sudden bout of malicious intent. Quickly changing plans, knowing that my brothers would approve and could get out quite easily on their own, I yanked the helmet out and slid into the shadow of one of the fallen pieces of armor. Since the helmet was at the very bottom, my act to removing it sent many pieces of armor and paper tumbling off the desk and onto the floor. This was very loud in the silence of the room and naturally attracted the attention of not only the two wannabe thieves, but of the captain as well. Of course, by then I was long gone.

"Well, that was easy," I muttered to myself. Quickly moving out the door and giving a thumbs up to both Dark and Vaati, who were waiting outside, I then made my way from shadow to shadow until the barracks were far away.

* * *

The two sets of zora armor were ready two days later, and we went to pick them up at the Zora's Domain. Now all we had to do was stock up on supplies and we were good to go.

After we'd soundly defeated the two challengers, they slunk back to their hidey-hole with their tails between their legs. Now instead of furthering their reputation like they'd hoped, they were now an example of why you should never challenge the three best thieves in town. As for us, well... we were more infamous than ever. And since with Dark's red eyes, my purple hair, and Vaati's pale skin among other things, we were pretty recognizable. So that meant that whenever we went out in public we took to wearing the hoods of our cloaks up all the time, if only to deflect some of the staring and whispering.

Luckily, however, it only took about a day to get everything we needed. A few hours later we were standing on the banks of Lake Hylia, all decked out in zora armor. I'll admit that did did feel very... strange, to say the least. But I soon got used to it. The flippers, however... well, Vaati and I nearly fell over laughing at Dark's epic fail when trying to walk with them. He tripped over a pebble and fell over face-first into the water, thrashing around for a second before he realized that the helmet allowed him to breathe. Now _that_ was cool.

The original plan was to go the very same day, but by the time we'd gotten used to swimming and moving around underwater (read: fooling around and pretty acting like little kids in a swimming pool) it was already night time. So instead we camped out on the banks and decided to go in the morning.

The night was fairly uneventful, barring one incident with a curious poe that, for some odd reason, called me "Master" when I told it to go away and leave us alone. And for some reason as well, my brothers and I could all see the poe perfectly well when Link could only see its lantern. I figured it had something to do with our abilities as well, but I wasn't sure. Then again, I was still half-asleep and kind of cranky because I'd gotten woken up, so maybe I had just imagined it.

For some reason, however, the poe's words triggered an odd image of a somewhat different and larger version of the spirit I'd just seen. I knew he was called a "Big Poe," but I didn't know how I knew of it or even what it was exactly. It also brought to mind a cave with carved pillars, and fake tomb and some strange sword that I _knew_ had some sort of significance. But for the life of me I could not figure out what it was. Farore, that was frustrating.

"It's mid morning now, guys. Come on, let's go," Link said eagerly. He'd taken to the swimming like a fish to water, and he'd somehow managed to move in a fashion that looked almost like he'd done it before. Watching him, I suddenly remembered what he reminded me of- a zora. But Link was a hylian... so why did he swim like a zora?

"Is it just me, or does it look like he's done this before?" Dark asked quietly as he watching the other teen swim in front of us. Vaati examined his swimming pattern carefully, and nodded.

"Yeah, he's acting like a zora would. Look, they even use the same technique to hover and spin. What the heck-?"

Our conversation was broken off as the subject of our words crested what looked like a giant tiered crater set in the middle of the lake. I could see the entrance to the temple in the northern wall, and frowned when I noticed a giant rock blocking the entrance. A few zora guards were swimming around, but they just nodded and let us pass when we swam by. Link cheated and used the iron boots to sink to the bottom faster, while the rest of us had to swim against the pull of our natural buoyancy.

"Don't worry, I have water bombs," he told us when I informed him that my bombs would be useless underwater. Then he took out something that looked like a fish with a rock in its mouth and wedged it into the corner between the rock and the doorway, swimming away hastily as it began to sizzle ominously.

A second later... _BOOM! _

Heads turned in our direction as the shockwave passed through us, sending chunks of demolished stone floated lazily to the bottom. The entrance to the Water Temple was open.


	9. The Water Temple and Zant's Curse

**Sorry this is late, but school is starting soon so I've been really busy getting ready! Oh, and updates may come slower because of that. Huge thanks to Nerdwen, ultima-owner, and Kerriss-Singer-of-Light for reviewing!**

**To Nerdwen: Y'know, if people didn't know that we're related, you'd sound like a complete stalker. Besides, I know for a fact that you're not even in the same state anymore.**

**Disclaimer: Must we really? I mean, just follow common sense. The site _is_ called _FANFICTION_.net, after all.**

* * *

The entrance to the Water Temple was, instead of a door, a long underwater tunnel. Multi-colored coral and plants lined the bottom, and the slight current that we were swimming against made them ripple serenely. It would have almost been pretty if not for the giant mutated jellyfish that tried to electrocute us, as well as the even larger mutated fanged clams that had massive jaws like steel traps. Extra-large steel bear traps.

These obstacles were all easily avoided, simply due to the fact that they weren't very maneuverable and we could just swim around them. A couple minutes later the tunnel began to slope steeply upwards, and soon after we surfaced in what looked like some sort of small entrance hall.

"Wha- agh! There's something slimy on my head get it off get it off get it off!"

My observation was cut off as Vaati freaked out, splashing water everywhere and shrieking like a girl. A large purple chu had apparently fallen from the ceiling and landed on Vaati's head, which was then dislodged by the pale boy's thrashing around. The blob was thrown off and landed in the water, where it quickly drowned dissolved into bits of purple goo that drifted slowly to the bottom.

Needless to say, the four of us vacated the water hastily. Then came the other six or seven chus.

"Ugh. I hate this place already," Dark grumbled as he reduced yet another chu to nothing but a purple colored puddle.

* * *

"Waa! Great Farore, what is it with this place?! First chus, now stalactites? What else is going to fall from the ceiling, bombs?!"

"Woah! That's treacherous... Whoa! Don't you think you ought to knock down those stalactites hanging off the ceiling first? They don't look to be very stable. I'd bet they'd break pretty easily if you hit them with enough force, don't you think?" Midna pointed out as she popped out of Link's shadow.

"Gee, no duh it's treacherous! Argh, is it just me, or is this temple more annoying than the other two already?" I muttered to myself. Vaati grimaced in agreement, but when I glanced at Dark, he looked almost... scared. His eyes were glazed over and he was twitching slightly, an almost fearful expression on his face. Then several of the stalactites came crashing down, severed from their stems by Link's bomb arrows. The loud sound snapped Dark out of his stupor and he returned to normal, leaping down and battling one of the armored monsters as the last stalactite fell from the ceiling.

* * *

"Whoa. Just... whoa."

"No kidding..."

"What do you think this room was used for?"

"I have no idea whatsoever. But whatever it was, this room is spectacular!"

"You can say that again."

"Okay. This room is spectacular!"

"Hey, Shadow, c'mere! It's that cucco lady again!"

"Oh, good gracious! It's you again!"

"Yeah, us again. How the heck do you keep getting into pots anyway?"

"..."

"Whatever. Let's just pick a door and go find whatever weird piece of bizarre armor that we're supposed to get here and get out, okay? Good."

"Gosh, he's sure in a bad mood today."

"I bet it's all the water. You know how he hates having to wade through anything lower than his ankles for some reason. He's fine if it goes up to, say, his shins, but if it's lower than his ankles he freaks out. It's actually really weird. We've never been able to figure out why."

"Really? Strange..."

* * *

"Whoa... awesomest waterslide ever!"

"Shadow, 'awesomest' isn't a word."

"Google docs says it is."

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"Um... actually, I have no idea where that came from. Anyway, let's go down the slide!"

"Shadow, you are such a little kid sometimes."

"Hey, is that a fish in the water?"

"... Correction: _Was_ that a fish in the water? It just got eaten by skullfish."

"Poor fishy. Whoa, look at that! They even eat the bones!"

* * *

"Dark, is it just me, or does something here smell really, really, bad?"

"It's not just you. Oh gross, something slimy just landed on my head!"

"... Don't tell me. It's on the ceiling again, isn't it? Seriously, what is it with this place and stuff that hangs or falls from the from the ceiling?!"

As Vaati threw his hands up in exasperation, we all looked up towards the ceiling at the exact same time. A massive dark blob clung to one of the hanging stalactites, and as we watched it shook itself and sent several smaller toadpoli that landed among us. Then it gave a massive groaning/belching sound that sent a wave of what could only be described as the absolute worst morning breath ever rolling around the room.

The creature then dislodged itself from its hanging spot and crashed to the ground, causing the entire room to shake. It gave that groaning/belching sound again and shook itself, sending more toadpoli scattered around the room. Its mini offspring immediately honed in and began attacking us, doing a surprising amount of damage through sheer numbers.

Once all the mini monsters had been killed and were little more than bits of black dust, the massively ugly toad-thing (the name Deku Toad suddenly popped into my head) suddenly sprang upwards, aiming to come down and squish us.

"Scatter!" Dark yelled, rolling out of the way as it came down nearly on top of him with a massive splash. It lay there, stunned for a moment, and the four of us took the opportunity to attack the only part of its body not covered by thick, impenetrable blubber- its tongue.

A second after it heaved itself off the ground and roared again, creating the perfect opportunity for me to throw one of my extra-large bombs into its mouth. It collapsed again, so we attacked the tongue. Then it revived itself and sent more toadpoli out, repeating the cycle once more until it finally died.

By then we were all covered with bits of monster dust, which was actually really gross because even if the water slid off the zora armor, enough moisture stayed for the ashes to collect themselves into goopy black messes. Gross.

What was even grosser, however, was the treasure chest that popped out of the Deku Toad's mouth once it died. It was covered in thick black goo, which slid off and pooled on the floor in a nasty-looking puddle.

"Ick. No way am I touching _that_ thing. Whatever's in there is all yours, Link." Vaati said in a disgusted voice. I was thinking the same thing. Link stared at it incredulously.

"Ah, actually, I got the items from the first two dungeons, so isn't only fair that one of you guys gets this one?" he asked hopefully. Midna then proceeded to pop out of his shadow and berate him for being a squeamish idiot and to just get the stupid item already.

After a few minutes of this, Link finally surrendered and walked over to the chest, nudging the clasp open with the toe of his boot. Kicking the thing open, he then bent over and removed what looked like some sort of glove with a grabbing claw on the end. Midna informed us that it was called a clawshot.

"Hey, this is actually pretty cool. What's this button do?" Link muttered to himself, squeezing a small trigger. Suddenly the claw shot out at the wall, trailing a length of chain behind it. Within five seconds it had rebounded off the wall and returned to the base, having not found anything to latch on to.

"Whoa. That is cool," Link said, wide-eyed. He cast his eyes around the room and saw a metal grate with a red circle in the middle on the ceiling over the gate that had closed. Grinning widely, the blond hylian aimed and fired the clawshot, then yelped as he was yanked through the air until he was hanging from the grate by one arm. Pressing another trigger he released the claw and landed on the ground, still grinning with exhilaration.

"Come on! There were some more grates over that way, and I want to try this thing out some more!" Link cried from the other side of the gate. Dark grinned and turned ghostly, floating through the bars, while I became a shadow and slipped underneath. Vaati hovered on his purple tornado and just floated over. Then we all went off deeper into the dungeon, Link eager to test out his new weapon some more.

* * *

"HOLY #$$# THE $#! FISH EXPLODE!"

"Swim away, swim away!"

"Aaaaaa, it's chasing me!"

"Out of the water! Quick!"

* * *

"Okay, giant empty room opened by a large key... no doubt the boss room." Dark said to himself as we sank down towards the bottom of the largest chamber we'd been in yet. Just as Link, aided by his iron boots, touched the sandy bottom, the ground suddenly opened up in the middle of the chamber to reveal a giant mouth surrounded by a waving tentacles. Schools of bombfish swam out and beelined towards us, eyes narrowed menacingly.

"Well, looks like that was confirmed. I wonder how big the monster itself is, if the mouth alone is that large." Vaati commented offhandedly as he swiped his dagger at a tentacle that got a bit too close for comfort. Link was trying to pin down the eye that kept traveling between tentacles with a clawshot, but with limited success. The rest of us focused on keeping the bombfish occupied. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Link slash at the overly large eyeball he'd pulled out for the third, time, which prompted the second phase of the battle.

A muffled screech reverberated through the water, and the Twilit Aquatic Morpheel pulled itself out of its hole to reveal its full size. That thing was massive, probably large enough to demolish Hyrule Castle if it could. I caught sight of a large eye on its back, probably the weak spot, as it swam around the room. Ignoring the way having an eye on the back of one's head made absolutely no logical sense, since it didn't have any eyes anywhere else, (monsters weren't logical. They just weren't.) the four of us quickly swam up and tried to get to that weak point.

"Link! Use the clawshot to get to the eye! We'll distract it!" Dark called, his slightly distorted voice sending vibrations through the water. The other hylian nodded and equipped the claw on one hand, holding his sword in the other. Thank the Goddesses he was ambidextrous. Then Dark nodded to us and we swam in front of the giant monster, grabbing its attention while trying to stay far enough away so that it wouldn't swallow us.

Link snuck up from behind while it was chasing us and latched on to the armor with the clawshot, crouching low on its back and stabbing his sword repeatedly into Morpheel's eye. The creature screeched and began to buck, Link hanging on for dear life while its thrashing tail sent already dilapidated stone pillars crashing to the ground.

Once it stopped bucking Link was free to use the sword again, stabbing it until it finally died and swam face-first into the wall. The large hole it created drained all the water out of the room, leaving only a few shallow puddles. It then exploded into tiny squares of twilight, which coalesced into the last Fused Shadow. Midna popped out and eagerly grabbed it, then turned to us with an almost apologetic look on her face.

"There it is! The last Fused Shadow... I'll just take that, thanks! Now, don't resent me for all I've put you through. I NEED this thing! Besides, we have to do something about Zant, the one who thinks he is the king of shadows... His power is a false one... I'll prove it using these! So... I've done everything I needed to. I'm sorry for dragging you all over the place with me... So... Shall we go? Want to go outside? Are you all done here?" she asked. Vaati raised an eyebrow as Link grabbed a nearby heart container.

"Oh, look, a miracle happened! Midna's actually being nice for once!" he muttered under his breath. Midna promptly whirled on him, back to her old prickly self. Then a second later we were warped out, appearing back in Lanayru's spirit spring.

Dark, Vaati and I promptly turned around to get out of there, still uncomfortable around the holy and pure light spirits. Unfortunately, we were met with an unwelcome sight.

"Zant!" Midna growled angrily. The fish-headed man turned to her and waved his hand, turning the spring back to twilight. Once again everything gained an orange tint and black twilight squares began to rise from the ground. Midna gained a corporeal form again, not just the shadow she inhabited in the Light World.

"Did you honestly mean to take an ancient and withered power like this and turn it against me? You are a foolish traitor, Midna. Why do you defy your king?" Zant asked, his voice low and dark. Meanwhile, the rest of us had once again been transformed into our beast forms,

Zant flicked his hand and Midna was suspended in the air as if by invisible chains, hovering over the water. Another flick and he had stolen the Fused Shadows, hiding them away in the depths of his cloak. I struggled to my feet, feeling my muscles get reacquainted with this new form.

The four of us then growled and sprang at Zant, who still had his back turned towards us. Suddenly he spun around and we stopped in midair, and were sent hurtling back towards the ground.

I yelped as I skidded across the dirt, landing heavily on my side. There was a blinding pain in my forehead as I landed and I caught a glimpse of some sort of odd stone sliding into in Vaati's forehead before everything went black.

* * *

When I came to, I found myself in the middle of Hyrule Field for some odd reason, and even though the twilight was gone, I was still in wolf form. Beside me Vaati stirred and opened his eyes, still in his panther form as well. On my other side Dark was still a wolf, and in front of my Link was in wolf form as well. Only, on his back was Midna, looking abnormally pale and breathing harshly.

The memories of what had just transpired slammed back into my head and I jerked upwards, looking around wildly for any sign of Zant. There was nothing but the usual monsters.

Link suddenly pricked his ears and listened intently for a minute, then turned to us.

"Guys, we have to get to Princess Zelda. She's the only one who can save Midna!" he barked urgently.

"How do you know that?" Dark asked, shaking his fur out. Link replied that Lanayru had told him.

"Wait, why are we animals again?" Vaati asked, inspecting his paws in confusion. I sighed and nudged his flank.

"Because Zant did something to us, smart one! Remember, we tried to attack him but he just repelled us? Goddesses, that guy is strong." I told him. My brother's eyes lit up in understanding.

"Then... did he do that to Midna too?" he asked, indicating her new color scheme. Dark nodded.

"Most likely, yeah. But according to Link, we need to get her to Zelda ASAP. I don't think she can hold out for much longer," Dark told us. Link nodded and took off at a sprint towards Castle Town, simply blowing past all the monsters. Suddenly it began to rain, the dreary night sky matching the urgency of our mood.

We could worry about how to get back to our hylian forms later. Right now, we needed to get to Zelda before it was too late, or Midna could die. And honestly, however annoying and prickly the little imp was, I had kinda gotten fond of her. I think everyone else had too. Zant would pay for what he'd done.


	10. The Blade of Evil's Bane

**Sorry this is late, but I will be doing a new updating schedule from now on: I will alternate between updating this story and my Harry Potter/Pokemon crossover. So, this week is Honor Among Thieves, next week is HP/Pokemon, the week after that is Honor Among Thieves, etc.**

**Thank you to ultima-owner and Kerriss-Singer-of-Light for reviewing! Yeah, I hated the Water Temple. The only dungeon I hate more is Arbiter's Grounds.**

**On a completely unrelated note, would you guys like me to bring in the Four Sword Links or OoT Link at any point? 'Cause yesterday I had this weird image of the FS Links (from the manga, since I haven't played the game) falling from the sky and landing on our group, then Red glomps Shadow yelling "YOU'RE ALIVE!" and everyone else is all confused while Vio tries to work out a logical explanation, Blue acts tough, and Green is trying to get some semblance of order out of the chaos. Yeah, I'm random.**

* * *

The dash to Castle Town was done in silence, only the sound of our paws founding the earth, the rain beating down on our heads, and the sound of our labored breaths as we sprinted across the fields.

Bolting across the drawbridge, the sounds of the townspeople screaming and running away in fear were ignored in favor of getting to the castle as fast as possible. Unfortunately, when we got there, the doors were closed and we lacked the opposable thumbs necessary to open them.

" #$#! Now how're we supposed to get in?" Link cursed angrily. I raised an eyebrow, mildly surprised at the sound of the usually somewhat mild-mannered country boy cursing. It seemed like Midna's condition was affecting more than I'd thought it was.

"Wait, don't worry. We'll just have to use the one in the Bar," Dark said quickly. Vaati growled slightly and lashed his tail from side to side in annoyance.

"Dark, that passage literally goes right over the bar! How the heck are we supposed to get there if we look like this?! I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure Telma wouldn't take kindly to three wolves and a panther just waltzing in," he pointed out. I nodded in agreement. Just then Midna wheezed, hoarsely whispering "Zelda…"

"Midna doesn't have much time. We have to use the passage," Dark insisted. Taking a look at the imp's pale, shivering form, I had to concede. As Vaati dipped his head in submission, Dark took the lead as we raced to Telma's Bar.

Once there, Dark didn't even bother trying to get in, instead going straight for the open window set in the wall. Link, Vaati, and I all followed, Link careful not to jostle his passenger too much. By now we were all soaked to the bone and freezing cold, the wet rain only augmented by the buffeting winds. Telma's cat, Louise, looked up at us in surprise, probably having scented our entrance. Then she saw Midna on Link's back and nodded in understanding, promptly going back to her spot next to the bar.

"Alright. Link, the passage is on the other side, over there. Us three can fly, but you'll have to walk across those ropes to the platforms. We'll try to keep the pots out of your way, and we'll catch you if you fall," Dark whispered hastily. I immediately began picking up the heavy clay pots in my jaws and pushing them to the side, making as clear of a path as possible for the larger wolf. Looking down, I saw that a goron was standing beneath us, probably as security seeing as we were otherwise occupied. More incentive not to get caught- getting hit by a goron was like getting hit by a solid stone wall.

A second later Link was all but running along the thick ropes, placing his paws in a perfectly straight line so as not to fall off. Dark and I were on either side, while Vaati glided an inch above the ropes behind him. Unfortunately, we were still soaked from the rain and were still dripping all over the place. Due to the fact that all of our attention was on Midna and making sure she and Link didn't fall, we failed to notice this. The people below us, however, did not.

"Hey, Telma, the roof is leaking. Wasn't it just fixed?" asked Bucket Head suddenly. By this time we were about halfway across the first rope, within full view of anyone who cared to look upwards. At the man's words all four of us froze, trying to remain as still as possible. A jolt of fear ran down my spine as I heard Telma answer, responding that it had been fixed just last week.

Then they looked up.

"Oh, Goddesses!" Link snarled, quickly traversing the rest of the distance to the wooden platform as fast as he could. But by then the damage was already done. stealth was no longer an option at this point as the Resistance and the goron all clustered into the center of the room, peering up at us. Bucket Head's hand was on his sword, ready to pull it out if necessary, while Ashei had a throwing knife out and ready to throw.

_Farore, this is not good. This is not good at all,_ I thought to myself.

"What on earth-? How did-" here Telma stopped, squinted, and quickly counted how many of us there were "-three wolves and a panther get in here?"

Bucket Head leaned forward and scrutinized us, then shook his head and muttered, "No, it can't be…" before taking off his helmet and looking more carefully. I heard Link gasp sharply beside me, as Bucket Head turned out to be his old teacher- the one we'd stolen a sword from almost two months ago. He probably recognized us from when I snuck into his house, and the rest of us from when we escaped from the village together.

Oh, Goddesses, I just hoped that they weren't smart enough to put two and two together. If they realized our real identities, that could completely destroy their trust in us. After all, who would want to work with a kid that turns into a wolf? If we got kicked out of Telma's good graces, it would just be that much harder to find food and shelter to survive.

"What's more, how did they get up there? I've never seen wolves that can fly, and they seem to do it using the same methods as Dark, Shadow, and Vaati. And most wolves don't have the balance required to walk across those ropes. Curious…" Shad said quietly, brow furrowed in his "thinking face."

I swallowed nervously.

"Honey, is it just me, or is does that wolf green? And that has a purple mane, the black one was red eyes, and… the panther… is… purple?" Telma asked hesitantly. Rauru nodded slowly.

"Yes, if anything, the remind me very much of Dark, Shadow, Vaati, and Link especially the panther… right down to the black eye markings. Strange."

Vaati flattened his ears and tried to shrink back against the wall, but to no avail. The platform just wasn't big enough for very much movement. As it was we were already pressed flank-to-flank against each other.

"If they stay still like that, I bet I could hit at least one with my knives. Want me to get rid of them?" Ashei offered, removing several other wickedly sharp throwing knives from where they were strapped to her thighs. The blades glinted ominously in the torchlight, the flames reflected in the polished steel.

Link shuddered slightly, and I could smell the fear scent that suddenly rolled off of him in waves.

Without warning a silver blur suddenly flashed past Vaati's muzzle, the throwing knife embedding itself in the wall no more than an inch from where his cheek had been. Letting out a startled yowl of surprise as it took a half inch off his right whiskers, the panther instinctively jerked to the side. Seeing as he was perched on the edge of a small wooden platform, however, this meant that "to the side" translated to "off the platform, into the air."

A second later the Wind Mage was hovering ten feet off the ground in a swirling tornado of wind, his fur fluffed out so that he looked nearly twice his natural size. The bipeds in the room stared in shock as the torchlight nicely illuminated his… ah, _unusual_ coloration, as well as the red eyes and trademark black marks under his eyes. Slowly Vaati rose up and settled back on the platform, now pressing himself as far away from the edge as possible.

_Oh, #$%# . If they hadn't figured it out yet, I'm sure they have no."_ I thought to myself. At that point, I'm not sure who was more surprised- us or them. Then Midna stirred and coughed slightly, snapping us out of our hypnotized stare-down.

"She needs treatment, fast. Deal with them later, if we move now we can get away before they start throwing more knives. Worst case we fight," Dark woofed quietly. Link nodded and turned away, practically bounding across the next two ropes. No longer caring about stealth, pots fell and shattered like rain. By the time the Resistance realized what was happening, the last of us was already through the tunnel.

But as we left, I heard Bucket Head whisper, "...Link?"

* * *

As a glowing golden diamond appeared around the castle, Midna gazed mournfully at the back of her left hand before turning and giving Link her customary kick, a signal to head towards the resting place of the Blade of Evil's Bane- the Master Sword.

Of course, we'd all heard the stories about it. Wielded by the famous Hero of Time, the Blade of Evil's Bane was said to have the ability to defeat any evil, to banish any darkness.

Somehow I doubted it was going to like my brothers and I. But what choice did we have? It was either the sword or we'd be stuck as animals forever.

On the plus side, though, we were working with the Chosen Hero. Maybe that would get us some brownie points; hopefully enough so that the sword wouldn't destroy us on sight.

Getting to Faron was easy, now that Midna had enough power to warp us. Of course, the moment we got there we ended up having to save a monkey from demented puppets, but at this point I'd realized that such acts had become normal for us and accepted it as part of my life. Still, though, those things were creepy!

The expression on Link's face when he was informed that he would have to traverse that giant chasm, however… that was priceless. Have I mentioned how much I love being able to fly?

* * *

It's official: I hate Skull Kid. He is the most annoying creature in all of Hyrule without a doubt. Though I will admit, smashing his face into a tree was immensely satisfying.

I wonder if that was my "Inner Demon" (as Dark calls it) speaking or my complete and utter frustration/annoyance with the little puppet master making itself known. At this point, I'm not sure I want to know.

Yet another reason I don't think the Master Sword will like my brothers and I very much. If anything, Dark is even more vicious than I am, bordering on sadistic at times. And Vaati can be surprisingly cold-blooded when he wants (or needs) to be.

* * *

A puzzle. Really? A puzzle? Good thing I've always been good at those. It's easy, once you've got a bird's eye view of everything.

* * *

Some sort of deep-seated instinct warned the tree of us to stay far, far, back as Link approached the sword. Even from the other end of the small courtyard I could already feel the holy power emanating from the sword, and it gave me a feeling of deep unease. I don't know why, it just did.

Then there was a blinding light, and suddenly, Link was hylian again, pulling out the Master Sword and holding it aloft. The backlash of pure magical energy sent of literal wave of dust and wind towards us, knocking us flat on our backs. When we got back up, we were hylian again. Though for some odd reason there was now what felt like a solid gemstone embedded in that little dip in my collarbone between the base of my neck and the top of my chest, the area usually covered by the clasp of my cloak.

Looking around, I saw that Vaati had something similar embedded in his skin as well, though instead of being circular his was a blood red oval. Dark had one as well, pitch black with a dark red tint. It was a little strange to have it right there, but as far as I could tell, it was completely fused to my skin. Over by the pedestal Midna was talking to Link while holding some sort of weird orange and black fungus thing, though I had no idea of what it was.

"What the- what the !$ #$ is this thing?!" Vaati yelled as he discovered his new gemstone. Dark frowned as he craned his neck to try and look at his. I rubbed my fingers over mine and grabbed a small dirty mirror out of a pocket that I'd once found on the ground to see what mine looked like. It was a circular gemstone, about a centimeter wide, colored the same shade of purple as my hair. Though for some strange reason, there seemed to be a strange mixture of red, blue, green, and violet tinting it slightly as well.

As I concentrated harder on the odd gemstone, I slowly began to realize that I could feel the magic in it- slightly different from mine, but similar enough that my body seemed to accept it. I could feel a hint of what I'd come to associate as Midna's Magic, which was a bit like a purer version of the cursed twilight.

I probed it with my own magic, then gasped as a flurry of black squares filled my vision and I was suddenly back on four paws again- only this time with the gemstone in the same place. Acting on a hunch I pushed magic towards it again, sighing in relief when I was returned to hylian form. Then I tried it again… and again… and again until I was dizzy from switching forms so quickly. However, I'd now added a new trick to my arsenal- the ability to shift between wolf and hylian forms at will. My brothers, quickly catching on, had done the same experiment, so by the time Link and Midna finished their short conversation we were already somewhat proficient at working with our new power.

"Hey, what are those things in your necks?" Link asked as he walked over. I looked at him with newfound respect. He now had an aura of power that he hadn't before, and with the Master Sword slung across his back, he suddenly looked much more the part of the Hero he was supposed to be. Of course, I didn't tell him that, but I knew that Vaati and Dark were probably thinking something similar.

"Ah, as far as we can tell, they let us shift forms as will. It's pretty cool, actually, except for the part where they seem to be permanently embedded in our bodies," Dark said nonchalantly. Link stopped dead in his tracks, doing an excellent fish impression.

"Wait, embedded into- what in the name of Farore? How is that possible?" he stuttered out. Midna popped out of his shadow, now able to take a corporeal form in the Light World because of Zelda's sacrifice. Flying over, she checked Dark's gem for a few seconds before doing the same of mine and Vaati's.

"Well, it seems like the curse was purified somehow so it wouldn't corrupt you, then it melded with your natural magic. Those gemstones are the physical manifestation of the purified curse. That's why when you use your magic on them, you transform," Midna summarized. I listened carefully, able to understand most of that. She was good. I wondered if she'd studied magic before or something.

Then Link pulled out the Master Sword and began examining it, testing the blade to see if it needed sharpening and if it was rusty. I don't he really expected it to be- after all, it was probably enchanted.

The four of us then made our way all the way back to the edge of the deep chasm that overlooked the area next to the Forest Temple. It was then that we realized that Link had no way of getting back. Of course, once the blond voiced this, Midna came out and started telling him that he now had the ability to transform, so we could just warp.

Well, that certainly made things easier.

We appeared in front of the drawbridge to Castle Town, shifting to hylian form, as soon as we were fully formed. Then we all stopped and looked at each other.

"So, what now?" Vaati asked.

"Well, since we're here, I think we should go talk to the Resistance. I think they'll be wanting answers," I replied. Link nodded, muttering something about "Rusl," whoever he was. Maybe Bucket Head?

Just before we were about to enter the gates, however, Link suddenly stopped and rushed back, telling us to wait there. About twenty minutes later he came back, looking very pleased with himself. When we asked, he just said that the Golden Wolf taught him a new move. The subject was dropped after that- the Golden Wolf kind of creeped me out. I don't know why, but he didn't seem to like us very much, especially Dark.

The four of us dragged our heels and pretty tried to put off the Bar as long as possible, none of us really wanting to confirm that they'd found out about our animal forms. But, eventually, we couldn't put it off any longer and clustered in the small entrance area in front of the door.

For some reason I was incredibly nervous. Rubbing the gem absentmindedly, I wondered whether it would be better to just lay low for a while and hope they forgot about it. Somehow, though, knowing Telma, they weren't just going to let it go.

Luckily for us, they were the only ones in the Bar at the time, so there was no danger of strangers overhearing us. Taking a deep breath, I steeled my nerves and walked in, dropping my pace slightly so that I was next to Vaati but behind Dark and Link.

As we entered Louise hopped down from one of the bar stools and trotted up to us, purring and rubbing her head against our legs. I chuckled and pet her behind the ears, glad for a distraction. By now the Resistance were openly staring at us, though I wasn't sure whether it was in anger, fear, or something else.

Surprisingly, Shad was the first to break the awkward silence that had fallen.

"So," he said slowly. "Werewolves, eh? Never would have thought, old chap. Though I've never heard of a werepanther, before. Quite curious, really. How did it happen?"

A good hour and a half later, we had relayed all of our adventures thus far, introduced Midna, given a demonstration of Link's new items and the shapeshifting, and were now planner our next move. Apparently we would be heading to the Gerudo Desert next.

Oh boy. Sandstorms, bulblin territory, a haunted prison, and an insane amount of light. I was _so_ looking forward to it.

Dark says that I'm just getting more and more sarcastic as I get older. I don't know what he's talking about.


	11. Arbiter's Grounds

**Sorry that this is a week late, but I was very busy with life and stuff. Yeah, lame excuse, but it is the truth. Sorry again!**

**Huge thanks to Kerriss-Singer-of-Light, Lime Gap, ultima-owner, and silver fire wolf for reviewing!**

**And due to a two to one vote (sorry silver fire wolf, but you were outnumbered) I will not be introducing the Four Sword Links to this story. However, going with Kerriss-Singer-of-Light's suggestion, I am considering a sidestory or oneshot where they do appear. Assuming I can find the time. 'Cause really, I just want to have the FS Link wreak havoc and confuse the heck out of the Resistance. It would be awesome.**

**To Lime Gap: Are there really that many TP/FS crossovers? I looked for them, but I couldn't really find any. If you know any good ones, would you mind recommending some to me? Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own. Wish I did, but no.**

* * *

After a quick trip for a way-to-serious-toddler and his goron friends, a new Malo Mart opened up in Castle Town. Since we were low on supplies, Link suggested that we check it out before heading to the desert. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

At the time, that was.

Upon entering the shop, the first thing that struck me was how _bright_ it was. Then the obnoxious music and dancing began to filter through my shell-shocked brain, and I was kept rooted to the floor with a combination of complete and utter shock, horror, and surprise.

People we scattered throughout the shop, every one of them carrying a shopping bag that sported Malo's face on it and dancing in a strange way that consisted of them moving their hips from side to side while shouting enthusiastically. One woman was actually leaning over the counter, straining to get at the goods behind while another fawned over a truly ugly vase over on the side. The entire shop was plastered with posters of Malo's face, and I swear there was even a life-size model mounted in one of the niches in the walls.

After a few minutes of that, Link finally gathered his courage and walked up to the counter, proceeding to buy a set of Magic Armor, blue potions, and more arrows. Then the four of us high-tailed it out of there as fast as we could.

Upon exiting the shop, I leaned against the wall and tried to calm my racing heart. Dark's eyes were so wide that I could see the whites all the way around, and it sounded like Vaati was starting to hyperventilate. Link just looked completely shell-shocked, and was lying on the floor covering his eyes.

One passerby saw us and laughed, remarking sympathetically, "Ah, it seems that you three have seen the new Malo Mart. Don't worry, we were all like that at first. But it gets better the second time, and the prices are the cheapest around!"

I snorting, thinking, _There is no way you can get me to go back in there, not even if you paid me a million rupees._

* * *

Upon reaching the desert (read: my brothers and I flying in calmly while Link crash-lands in a sand dune from his cannon flight) Midna had some revelations to tell us.

"Wait, Link, Dark, Shadow, Vaati. Before we go on, there's something I want you all to hear...Do you remember what the spirit said about the Fused Shadows? What do you think happened to the magic wielders who tried to rule the Sacred  
Realm? They were banished. They were chased across the sacred lands of Hyrule and driven into another realm by the goddesses. It was another world entirely... The antithesis of Hyrule, where the sun shines bright. Its denizens became shadows that could not mingle with the light. Eventually, most came to call it the Twilight Realm, and from it, none could return to the world of light… They were forever doomed to live in the twilight, flitting in the half-light of dusk, mere shadows of Hyrule…

"This is the history of the Twili as it has been passed down from our  
ancestors… Do you now understand what I am? I'm a descendant of the tribe that was banished to the Twilight Realm! It was a peaceful place...until Zant took control of the Twilight Realm and transformed all of the Twili into shadow beasts. It's clear to me now that he somehow gained a great evil power previously unknown to our tribe… In any case, I was sent from there, and could no longer get into the Twilight Realm without his power… But there's another tale told by my people.

"Though the goddesses forbade us to return to the world of light, they left one link between the light and the darkness. Something called the Mirror of Twilight was passed to the protectors of Hyrule… It's our only path to the Twilight Realm...and we must get there! You'll come with me...won't you?" Midna asked softly, her voice unusually gentle and almost… sad. Link nodded, his face set determinedly. At this point, we all knew that he would probably go to the ends of Hyrule and beyond for the imp. My brothers and I, however…

Dark hesitated for the second, then dipped his head. "Yea, we'll help 'ya. Don't worry, we don't abandon one of our own. Thieves' Honor," he said with a small smirk. Midna smiled and nodded in relief, then dove back into Link's shadow. As the four of us began our trek across the Gerudo Desert, Link turned to us in confusion.

"Thieves' Honor? What's that? I thought that thieves weren't honorable," he asked. I laughed.

"Maybe not to people like you, but among thieves, we got our own honor system. We don't sell each other out without a good reason, and we always watch each other's backs. It's Honor Among Thieves, so to speak," I replied. Link nodded in understanding. Then we turned back to the walk, heading straight for the massive fortress that was the only building to break the horizon line.

* * *

Deserts. The bane of my existence. They're hot, gritty, and have altogether _too much $%*& light_ in them. Seriously. It is _hot_ and _dry_ and _there's way too much light!_

No, I'm not being overdramatic. There really is that much light. I mean, it's a _desert_ for Farore's sake! It's kind of a given that it'll be hot, sandy, and bright.

And I haven't even gotten started on the moldworms yet. Not to mention the cannon ride over here- though I'll admit, watching Link's expression as he was shot through the air was hilarious. Of course, the rest of us just flew, but still.

* * *

Ahhh… so _that's_ where the missing chunk of Eldin Bridge went. I was wondering about that. Now that warp point wouldn't go straight down to an endless chasm anymore. That'd be useful.

* * *

"I swear, if I have to kill another (#*$& *! poe tonight I will run and hide under a sand dune! Pulling those souls out to make them stay down… I'm traumatized for life!" I shivered dramatically, mock shuddering at the memory. Seriously, though, it was freaky. And if you actually _listened_ to the soul right after you pulled it out, you could hear it beating, like a heartbeat… it was freaky. Really freaky.

"I agree. Did you _hear_ that heart beating? I didn't even know poes _had_ heartbeats. I'm going to be having nightmares about this tonight, I just know it," Vaati moaned, a bit paler than usual. Link and Dark both nodded in agreement, shuddering slightly. Even Midna looked a bit put out by the poe souls, and everyone released a sigh of relief as the last one in the area was stored in one of Link's many seemingly endless magical pouches. If I ever saw another poe again, it would be too soon.

* * *

Okay, so maybe sneaking right through the bulbin camp wasn't the best of ideas, but it was still pretty fun all the same. And watching Link try to ride the giant bulbos- priceless! Even if he did almost get a concussion. Eh, whatever. He'll survive. He always does. After all, he is the Goddesses' chosen hero. They won't let him die.

* * *

King Bulblin is the worst loser in all of Hyrule. I mean, seriously? Just cause he lost the fight, now he's going to trap us in here surrounded by fire? When Midna could just warp us out? Has he neglected to remember that his entire camp is also wooden, and is a mere minute away from going up in flames?

Well, never let it be said that monsters are particularly intelligent. I will admit, however, that the sight of the entire bulblin camp going up in smoke and flames was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen.

* * *

The closer we got to the Grounds, the more I could feel the malevolent aura that blanketed the entire area. The place practically _reeked_ of death and decay, and as we made our way down the deserted halls, I swear I could hear wailing and screaming in the distance. But when I focused more on the sound, it always disappeared before I could pinpoint it. Ugh, this place gives me the creeps…

* * *

Okay, army of mini skeletons. I can handle that. They're really not so bad…

Oh, who am I kidding. I'm going to be having nightmares about this place for weeks. Annnnd Vaati just _had_ to point out the numerous skeletons and bones lying around. Gee, thanks for that. As if I needed to see more dead people.

* * *

"OH MY GODDESSES I'M COVERED IN BUGS! GET THEM OFF GET THEM OFF GET THEM OFF!"

I'm sure I mentioned earlier that Vaati _hates_ bugs… if I didn't, now you know. Except that now the rest of us hate them too. I am _never_ going to look at any beetle the same way again.

* * *

Remember what I said earlier about the poes? Well, I take it back. If I ever even _think_ about a poe again, it'll be way too soon. I'm just glad it was Link instead of me who had to sniff its remains… and we still have to defeat three more of them.

The Goddesses must have a sick sense of humor.

* * *

After the army of mini skeletons, body-covering scarabs, and horrific poes who steal lamp-fire, I guess I really shouldn't have been surprised at the flying skull of some unknown creature. The way the wings kinda cracked and burst their way out of the sides, however…

Well, just one more thing to add to my already terrifying nightmares about this place.

* * *

Skeletons. Skeletons that rise from the and reassemble themselves with shields and swords while making a horribly unnatural rattling sound as they advance on you. And they can only be killed by blasting their bones apart with a bomb.

I have never been so glad to hurl one of my extra-special giant bombs in my life. What's next, mummies?

"_SCREEEECH!"_

Seems like I spoke too soon. Wait, wha- how are they even _moving_ those swords?! And why am I paralyzed?!

Oh, ****. This one's gonna _hurt…_

_WHAM!_

* * *

I hate rats. I hate 'em even more than those scarabs, because not only do they climb all over you, but they bite and scratch and they're so disgusting and vile and UGH!

Yeah, in case you haven't noticed, I really hate rats.

* * *

"Alright, you're doing this one, because I did the first one and I am not doing it again!"

"Oh no, I'm good. Shadow, you do it."

"What?! No way! I am _not_ going to do the finishing blow on that thing! I saw how the first one died!"

"Aaahh! Guys, they gets back up if you take too long!"

" $& ($&(#$! Now we gotta kill it all over again!"

"You do it this time!"

"No, _you_ do it!"

"Guys! Argue about it when its down, focus of beating the thing right now!"

* * *

Hey look, that creepy flying skull from earlier is back. Only now it's on fire. Yeah. On fire. Yipee. Now it's even harder to kill.

I am hating this place more and more by the second. At least there's only a couple more poe souls to go.

* * *

_Death Sword. How apt_. I thought, leaping out of the way as a giant black sword whistled over my head. All four of us were in wolf form, snarling and growling at the ghost only revealed by using our senses. The ghost swung at us and missing, getting its massive sword stuck point-first into the stone floor. Taking the opportunity, the four of us leapt and dragged it down, biting and clawing at the undead ghost. A minute later it had managed to free itself and had somehow become visible to the hylian eye, prompting us to shift back to our two-legged forms.

Link pulled out his bow and somehow managed to shoot it in the head (Nice shot! But how do you shoot a ghost…?) which made it fly in circles around the room. Swinging its sword wildly, the creature then managed to miss and get its sword stuck in the ground. Heh, idiot. Without hesitation the four us descended on it with our weapons out, stabbing and slashing at the undead ghost. With all four of us working together, the creature didn't stand a chance. Within two more short cycles of this, Death Sword was once again dead.

I'll admit, at first I didn't know what to think when I saw the spinner. It looked like a larger version of a child's toy, to be honest. But _dang,_ riding it around is fun!

And now Link can get over the quicksand faster. That's definitely useful. Plus, he can get to more places with the railings that he can't normally. Again, pretty useful. But now, imagine the possibilities if we could ride that around in Castle Town… no more fighting through crowds of people, now we could just ride and everyone would get out of the way! If only we could figure out how to make it last longer, though...

* * *

BOOM!

A large crater appeared in the ground where a battalion of stalkins had risen from the sand and tried to attack us. Unluckily for them, the entire prison had made my jumpy and high strung, prompting my immediate reaction upon their appearance to the the throw of an extra-special giant bomb. The stalkins were now little more than bones and dust.

"Hey, Shadow?" Vaati said, tapping me on the shoulder as I turned down a hall.

"Yeah? What?"

"You have bone shards in your hair. And part of a finger."

"AAAAHHHH!"

* * *

Link laughed in delight as he spun in a giant ascending spiral, zipping around and around as he traveled towards a platform mounted high up near the ceiling of the enormous cavern. My brothers and I followed, flying up either by our own power or with the aid of the winds. Then we all gathered at the door, remembering to stay back as the giant lock clattered to the ground when Link unlocked it.

As we entered the next room, the first thing we saw was a humongous skeleton lying in the middle of a large quicksand pit.

"Whoa. Now _that_ is a giant skeleton," I said as we saw the enormous fossil. Link walked forwards, probably to go examine it. Then Zant appeared in a burst of orange and blue-green bubbles, hovering just above the giant's skull.

"You all still live... How astonishing. No wonder some call you "heroes". But this is truly a bittersweet reunion... Truly! For I fear this is the last time I will see you all alive!"

Then the King of Twilight somehow produced a giant sword out of nowhere, slamming it into the forehead of the giant fossil. He laughed evilly as he warped away, vanished once again before we had a chance to attack.

However, our attention was soon diverted by other, more pressing matters. Or rather, one pressing matter, singular.

The sword had somehow managed to, for lack of a better phrase, bring the giant fossil to life. An eerie red glow came from its formerly empty eye sockets, and with a great groaning and creaking it slowly heaved itself upright to balance in the middle of the large sandpit on its spine. Sand rained down as it tested its joints, dust and grit filling the air. I coughed and covered my eyes, hoisting the edge of my cloak over my mouth. Even so, bits of sand and dust still made their way in.

Then the giant skeleton swung its head around to glare at us, roared in challenge, and proceeded to raise a small army of human skeletons complete with armor, shields, and swords still attached. And if that wasn't enough, it then began to spew flame. Oh, the Goddesses must really have _quite_ the sense of humor when it comes to us.

Soaring towards the ceiling with an extra-special giant bomb in hand, I knew that the battle with the Twilit Fossil Stallord had begun.


End file.
